


The Depths of Rapture (Discontinued)

by Mistweaver



Category: BioShock, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Amnesia, Eventual Smut, Game Spoilers, Horror, I will tag as I go along, M/M, Manga Spoilers, NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS, Non-Canon Age Difference, Shingeki no Kyoujin AU - Bioshock, Slow Build, Violence, blood and gore (but not too bad?), no set update times, oh and a few things have changed, set in all three games (it'll make sense promise), you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2015-04-14
Packaged: 2018-02-09 21:56:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1999377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistweaver/pseuds/Mistweaver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Remove your helmet.” He did as he was told.<br/>I failed him.<br/>“Now take this pistol.” He did as he was told.<br/>I was unworthy.<br/>“Place it on your temple.” He did as he was told.<br/>I failed him.<br/>I am unworthy.<br/>“Fire.”<br/>He did as he was told.</p><p> </p><p>He died that day. By his own tormented hand, Eren Jeager died on the cold, filthy ground, his lifeless eyes staring into the nothingness that awaited him. At that moment, his story had ended.</p><p>But someone had been watching him and his tragic story. And that someone decided to rewrite it.</p><p> </p><p>/////Hiatus - To be rewritten in the future under the name EnRapture/////</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. That'll Leave A Mark

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, and welcome to my SNK/Bioshock AU.
> 
> This story is set in Rapture at some time between games 1 and 2. Nothing is as it seems, do your best to try and think ahead but don't jump to conclusions! Everything else will be explained in due time. So, please! Enjoy and let me know what you think.
> 
> PS - I might not update regularly because some crazy stuff is happening in my life, and I might not have time. But I plan to write ahead for a few chapters so hopefully I can keep it updated!

A ball of fire flew past his shoulder, barely missing the raven black hair of the older boy at his side. It sizzled out with a puff of steam against the waterfall of ocean water leaking through the rusted frame of the hallway. Seeing the water and hearing the thundering feet from the horde of splicers behind them, Eren lifted the smaller boy at his side and carried him over the water as he trudged through it himself, boots firmly gripping the slick tile. Eren ignored the shout of protest as he effortlessly lifted his companion, his hand thrumming with the power of telekinesis.

 

“Come back here, little kitties! I just want to play with your _coooorpses_!”

 

“Quick, while they’re in the water!” The voice at Eren’s side yelled over the roar of gunfire.

 

When the pair safely reached dry ground, Eren threw a bolt of lightning into the salty filth at the splicers feet. He turned and kept running, ignoring the screams of agony that came from behind him.

“Shit, Houdini splicer!”

 

Her shrill scream seemingly shattered the air. “You fuckin’ BASTARDS!”

 

With an explosion of red and purple, a gnarled woman appeared before them, hands crackling with balls of fire. She threw them with an enraged shriek, once again narrowly missing the shorter boy and the other falling solidly on Eren’s arm as he charged forward with all his power and pinned her to the wall with his drill. She screamed at him, clicking her teeth in his face with a snarl before falling limp. He pulled back and turned just in time to feel the edge of a flying spear graze past the metal of his helmet.  He tore it from the wall before smashing it over the head of the spider splicer that leapt from the ceiling behind him. Seeing another within his reach, Eren prepared himself to charge them. The roar of the drill lasted only a few seconds. The sound of it powering down, even with his finger tightly pulling the trigger,brought a chill to his spine. The burden of the knowledge weighed down his exhaustion and nearly swept his knees out from under him. Somehow, he ignored it and pressed on.

 

He had dropped all his guns along the way, either having been damaged or empty of ammunition.The bullets tore through their targets with unparalleled accuracy while Eren robotically emptied clip after clip until he had nothing left. Countless splicers fell under Eren’s defensive wrath, yet more kept coming.

 

Thinking fast, Eren lifted the olderboy into his chest, shielded him with his own body, and charged away from the horde, with only his empty drill and his dwindling stash of Eve left to defend them. Eren had no time to rearm himself. They must keep moving. They must get to the submarine. They _must_ escape!

 

 

 

_“Hey, you’re supposed to follow my every command right?” Rough, steel eyes caught Eren’s gaze from beneath the mask. Eren nodded once, slowly. “I see. Then,” his voice grew softer but the bitterness remained, “can you promise me something? Can you promise that you’ll take me away from this place?” Eren nodded again._

_Silence fell between the two. Eren remained where he was, blankly watching his charge. After some time, the older boy weakly stood from where he sat against the dripping wall and carefully made his way over to his guardian. He slowly lifted his hand until it rested against the rough material of the helmet, just beneath the small pane of glass. Gently, delicately, the boy’s thumb grazed across the material above Eren’s cheek, ignoring the red that smeared across it. The gesture was warm, caring… nostalgic. But Eren felt nothing. And somewhere deep inside, that pained him greatly. Instead, he just stared and waited. Sadly, the hand fell away. “I see.”_

_The bitter hope that spawned behind the pools of silver tugged on the chains that concealed what remained of Eren’s heart. “Look at me and listen closely because this is an order.” His voice grew in strength, “Get me out of this god forsaken city."_

_Eren properly faced his charge, blood boiling from the command and lifted his arms in salute. He didn't notice how the shorter man bit his lip and looked away from the salute, a single drop of liquid pain spilling from his eyes._

_Eren now had a purpose. And he was created fulfill it._

 

 

 

Turning a corner brought them to a dead end, but there was no room to backtrack. Eren set the boy down behind him and turned, ready to make his stand.

 

Out of nowhere, he was thrown through the crumbling building to his side, a brute splicer viciously raining punches on his body. The wind rushed from his lungs, depriving his mind of its normal, clear thoughts. Perhaps it was instinct that caused Eren to set a wind trap on his chest, but doing so threw the brute into the air like a rag doll. The force of the pressure cracked something deep within his chest, yet Eren gave it no second thought because his right hand was already rising from his side, waiting below the falling body of the brute. A wet, sickening sound followed as the goliath of a man fell onto the point and lay still.

 

Regardless of the fatigue pulling at his limbs, Eren’s blood boiled and drove him on. He swiftly rose to his feet, desperately trying to get his bearings when a barely audible, hesitant voice called out.

 

“H-hel-”

 

Hearing the voice come from behind him, Eren spun around and those hawk-like eyes made contact with his own. They were wide, and they were afraid.

 

The raven haired boy was completely surrounded. Maniacal laughter came from all sides, rotten teeth gleaming in the fire-light as a trio of splicers inched their way closer. Their mangled faces were mostly hidden under a cowl of darkness, and as they moved forward, the light slowly fell upon their disfigured heads. But the look of horror the boy gave was caused by the rusty, blood covered blades in their hands. One dared to reach out and stroke his hair, causing him to recoil in shock and disgust.

 

“Look at this, darling! The poor lamb looks sick, he’s white as a sheet!”

 

“Too true, dear, too true. He was awfully cold to the touch as well! Whatever should we do, brother mine?”

 

“Oh, c-cut the shit out man! Y-you know he’s m-my type! G-give me just a few with him, y-ya?”

 

They had backed trembling boy into a wall. The sheet metal rattled as the boy’s back pressed against it desperately.

 

“Well, I don’t know, brother mine. He’s far too tempting to share.” The splicer leaned forward, his face now inches from the boy’s. His filthy hand came up and tightly gripped on the others chin, forcing their eyes to meet. Now only inches away, the splicer smiled cruelly and whispered against his captive’s lips, “I may just have to have a taste myse-”

 

He never finished his sentence. A large iron rivet sailed through the air and embedded itself in his right temple, knocking his head to the side and causing him to skid across the floor in a heap. The moment of shock wore off quickly.

 

“BROTHER!”

 

The two remaining splicers turned on Eren, their captive momentarily forgotten. He stood a few meters away, arm held forward and shaking as the remainder of his Eve melted away with the attack. He now only had the point of his drill and the strength of his arm to protect them. Like a bull, the male splicer charged Eren, fury rolling off him in waves.

 

“You’ll pay for that you fucker!”

 

Eren prepared to use the splicer’s force against him and impale the man on his drill, but before the point could make contact with his sickly flesh, with a flash of red and purple, the splicer disappeared.

 

As the mist quickly faded away, Eren saw that the woman had forced the raven haired boy away from the wall. She had her arm wrapped around his neck, the other holding his hands behind his back. Once again, Eren made eye contact with the most important person in his life, and the terror still remained. Yet behind the overwhelming fear, sadness pooled in the depths of that liquid silver. It sent a spear of emotion through the abyss of Eren’s heart.

 

And so, Eren could only stand and watch as the scene before him played out like a bad dream; agonizingly slow but horribly, horribly real.

 

“This is for my husband, you abomination!”

 

Those silver eyes widened even further in shock and agony when the crusted point of the blade emerged from his stomach. The splicer turned to the boy’s neck and cooed, “Sorry darling, maybe next time.” She finished off by licking a trail from his chin to his ear and unceremoniously throwing him to his knees.

 

The boy lifted a bloody hand from his stomach and reached out to Eren, eyes losing their focus. He smiled sadly through the pain.

 

“…ry.”

 

And in that moment, Eren felt his heart seize and shatter into thousands of pieces. He screamed his awakening agony at the top of his lungs. The sound echoed through the building, shaking the walls and rattling the lights in their sockets. It went on and on as he stared at the puddle of scarlet forming beneath the most important person in his world.

 

Suddenly, but not soon enough, the older boy was cradled in his arms. And still Eren roared. His rough, gloved hands desperately brushed away the sweat soaked hair from those steel eyes. Eren felt the warm blood on his knees, flowing from his charge onto the filth covered floor. He saw the pained breaths shake the frail, trembling body. Eren felt his own tears drip freely down his face, unseen behind the shadowed glass of his helmet.

 

What he didn't hear over the sound of his agony was the sound of gunfire and the screaming of the splicers. He didn't see the men surround him and his precious friend. He didn't sense the man walk up in front of him and snap his fingers.

 

What he _did_ feel was the body in his arms being ripped from him. Furious, Eren rose to his feet. But before he could raise the drill by his side, the face of the man before him came into view. And with it, Eren lost the will to move.

 

The man stared down his nose at Eren and spoke, venom laced in his every word.

 

“Who do you think you are?”

 

Voice foreign to his own ears after ages of silence, Eren spoke to the man through the glass of his helmet. “I am De-”

 

“I know who you are, Delta. That is not what I was asking.” The man’s lips curled back in a snarl as he continued. “What I asked is _who do you THINK YOU ARE?!”_ His voice rose and struck Eren like a physical slap to the face. “You dare assume that you are powerful enough -that you are WORTHY enough- to protect the Lamb of the people? You _sicken_ me! I would never trust my family to the hands of some _orphaned filth._ ” He stared at Eren with unlimited fury and disgust.

 

“This city _saved_ you from your pitiful life. Her loving people took you in, raised you, nurtured you into the man that you are and you turn your back on them for a selfish, greedy whim!” To Eren, the words stung because somewhere deep inside him, he knew they were true.

 

“But see, Delta? Justice prevailed for the people! Our Lamb has returned to us. He is now under my protection, as he should have been from the start." A cruel smile split the man's face. "Your existence here is no longer needed.”

 

The man leaned forward, breath misting against Eren’s blood-soaked helmet, and Eren felt the pity in those eyes pierce right through him.

 

“Without Le- no, without the Lamb by your side, you have no purpose. Without him by your side, you become a worthless piece of trash. For your sins against the people, you deserve the loneliness that awaits you.” He sneered. “But today I feel merciful.” With a deep breath, the man regained some composure and spoke again.

 

“Delta. Kneel before me.”

 

Absolute resignation and misery filled Eren to the bone. It weighed on Eren’s heart and mind like the depths itself was closing in on him. So he did what he was told.

 

“You ran off with our Lamb and you failed to protect him. You _failed_ him, Delta.”

 

_I failed him._

 

“Look at what your sin has done! He is dying because you were unworthy.”

 

_I was unworthy._

“Remove your helmet.” He did as he was told.

 

_I failed him._

 

“Now take this pistol.” He did as he was told.

 

_I was unworthy._

 

“Place it on your temple.” He did as he was told.

 

_I failed him._

_I am unworthy._

 

“Fire.”

 

He did as he was told.

 


	2. Wake Up Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, apparently, putting a bullet through your head leaves you with an awful headache the next time you wake up, not to mention the dry aftertaste. Who knew.
> 
> But Eren here doesn't know why he hurts so much. He doesn't remember the fighting, the screaming, the agony in his heart. He doesn't remember putting the barrel to his temple and pulling the trigger. He doesn't remember anything about that day. In fact, he barely remembers anything at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all and welcome to chapter two. Here's where the fun begins. Also, I intend to have a somewhat sassy Eren for part of this story, but that's kinda hard to do when a) he can't talk and b) he's scared shitless. But oh well. It'll all work in due time.

The first thing he felt was the air rushing past his face as the world tipped sharply.

 

The second thing he felt was the impact of his face greeting the floor.

 

Eren groaned into the dust beneath his aching nose. Or at least he thought he did, but all that came out was a strangled wheeze as his lungs took in the stale air that surrounded him. It pained him more than he was expecting, causing him to cough and hack around the dryness of his throat. Swallowing did little to ease the sandy taste in his mouth, but he kept at it, again and again until his mouth finally remembered what to do. Moisture seeped into his mouth as his glands did their job.

 

Eren rose from the ground, knees beneath him and hands on the floor, trying to stop the world from spinning around him. The blood rushed around his ears, drowning out his desperate wheezing. His eyes swam as well, the stained tiles beneath his bare hands zooming in and out randomly.

 

“Nngh,” he groaned out as he gently rocked back onto his heels. Breathing was easier sitting up like this, so Eren greedily sucked in deep breaths to clear his mind. _What... happened to me?_

 

The nausea and dizzy sensation lasted a quite a few minutes, but it eventually ebbed away. It was only then that Eren realized that the high pitched ringing in his ears was actually coming from a small radio a few feet away. Not trusting himself to stand, Eren shuffled awkwardly along the ground until he came nose to nose with the bloodstained seat the radio rested on.

 

_What the hell?_

 

He stared suspiciously at it for a while, watching the little green light on the top blinking on and off. After a few seconds, the pattern would break, the call timer having ended, before starting back up again with its annoying squawk, begging to be answered. The sharp pitch of the ringing sent stabs of pain through Eren’s temple and he wanted it to stop _immediately,_ but the only way to stop the sound and give him some peace was to answer the radio. Deciding that the device itself was harmless, Eren gave in to its plea.

 

Cautiously, Eren reached out to it. His hands still shook slightly, but he gritted his teeth and pressed the large, red button that read ‘answer’ and waited.

 

“-ji, I told you he’s just sitting there and not pick- oh. He answered.”

 

There was an awkward pause and the sound of shuffling before the man on the radio cleared his throat. While waiting, Eren’s eyes warily wandered across the crumbling walls that stood in front of him. Before his gaze returned to the radio, something black and shiny caught his eye. It was small and circular with a little red light flashing on top of it. His eyes narrowed.

 

“-ey, kid, can you hear me? Hello?” The man sounded confused. Eren opened his mouth to reply, but only a garbled ‘yes’ escaped his lips. Startled, he tried again, but still no proper sound came out. His placid outlook on the situation slowly started to sour into fear and confusion, but the man’s voice broke through his momentary panic. The strength of it was almost comforting.

 

“Looks like our hunch was correct.” The man sighed deeply. “I’m sorry, kid, but spending time in that monstrosity behind you apparently tends to knock out your voice box for a bit. Well, from what I’ve heard, you didn’t talk much back then anyways.”

 

Eren stiffened. _‘Back then’?_ This man knew more about his situation than he did. Not to mention he knew more about Eren than, well, Eren. That was often a very dangerous scenario. Feeling the strength slowly returning to his limbs, Eren got off the ground and picked up the radio in his hand before finding the cleanest part of the bloodied seat it had rested on, and plunked down on it himself. Better have your back to the wall in a situation like this.

 

Sitting where he was, Eren took in the other half of the room. There was a large sheet of plywood that obviously hid something behind it to the left of a tall, glass chamber, that held bolts of lightning crackling within. On the device, a simple sign flashed in neon lights: ‘Vita-Chamber’. Eren glared at the thing, unsure of what it was or what it did. He refused to let it from his sight for the moment, but with a quick glance above it, Eren saw another flashing camera lens. The mysteries of the machine before him temporarily forgotten, Eren heartily glared at the camera.

 

“I see you've discovered one of our cameras. I’d congratulate you, but that was to be expected, not to mention they weren't exactly hidden.” The last part seemed to be directed towards a third party rather than to himself or Eren. The muffled protest in the background confirmed Eren’s guess.

 

He growled quietly, his irritation and discomfort getting the better of him.

 

“Now, it looks like speaking with you will be a problem at the moment, and I know you probably have questions,” _Damn right. “_ but right now, I’m going to need you to listen to what I have to say. And I know you have absolutely no reason to, but I need you to trust me. To trust _us_.”

 

Eren didn’t move an inch. He sat and stared at the camera; stared at the man behind it. Should he give his life to some man on the other end of a plastic toy? But what other option did he have? Who knows what waited for him outside that door.

 

“Would you please trust us?” Eren blinked slowly and considered the question.

 

Eren was in some unknown city, which was located god knows where, and he had absolutely no memory of how he got here. He just fell out of some sort of glass coffin that had _lightning_ in it, his head doesn’t feel like it’s attached to his shoulders, his only form of communication is a radio to some stranger, who Eren knows absolutely nothing about but he apparently knows a lot about Eren, who just happened to call him after he fell out of the coffin, which has _lightning in it_ , and he is asking Eren to trust him. Regardless of the disturbing situation, something in him decided he should. So he nodded.

 

“Thank you.” The man sighed into his mic. “Now, I am going to ask you a series of yes or no questions, and I want you to nod or shake your head in reply to them. Understand?”

 

 _What is this, elementary school?_ Eren nodded again. The man shuffled around, obviously rustling with some papers before he spoke again.

 

“Are you male?”

 

Eren gave the camera a look. _You’re joking._

 

“I will take that as a yes.” Some scribbling could be heard.

 

“Do you know where you are? And I don’t mean the immediate vicinity. I mean the city as a whole.” Eren took a moment to think before answering. After a few seconds, he slowly shook his head. An inkling of fear started to tickle at his chest as reality started to sink in.

 

“Do you know what day it is?” He shakes his head. “Do you know what year it is?” He shakes his head.

 

“Do you know why you’re here?” _No._

 

“Do you know what you are?”

 

This question takes Eren aback. Alarmed, Eren patted himself down, searching for anything strange. Everything was fine until he felt the small, circular scar on his temple beneath his hair line. His world slowed when his finger rimmed the bump. His heart felt heavy and suddenly, Eren felt like crying. His hands fell into his lap like dead weight, palms clammy. Not looking at the camera, he shook his head.

 

The realization that he didn’t know where he was, why he was there, what day it was or even what _year_ it was, felt like a punch to the gut. The blood pounded in his ears, and his breath came in short, desperate gasps. Eren tried to calm himself, the leather of the seat under his hand protested as he clung onto it for dear life. Something actually popped under his grip.

 

“Hm.” The man’s calm hum of concentration did far more than irritate Eren. _Here I am, having an emotional crisis and the bastard is ‘hm’ing at me!_ Eren forced himself to breathe more deeply to stifle the fear that poked at the base of his stomach.

 

“Do you know what Adam is? Eve?” He had to think for a moment, but again, he warily shook his head. _But it sounds so familiar._ Absentmindedly, Eren scratched an itch on his left wrist.

 

“Do you… know your name?” The pause in the question spiked Eren’s caution and interest. He sat up straighter.

 

 _Yes_. With confidence, Eren shook his head. He could hear the man shift in his seat.

 

“Alright, I’m going to read out the alphabet, and I want you to let me know which letter your name starts with, okay? You know the alphabet, right?”

 

The last question had Eren grit his teeth through the small blush that crept to his cheeks, but he nodded.

 

“Good. I’ll start. A.” Nothing. “B.” Nothing. “C.” Nothing. The man paused and Eren immediately noticed the deep intake of breath. “D.”

 

The silence was longer than before, so Eren looked up at the camera and blinked, waiting.

The man’s voice had quieted, sounding almost hopeful as he spoke again. “…E?”

 

Eren nodded once.

 

“Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic!” His voice suddenly grew distance as he yelled to someone in the distance. Eren could only just make out what he said. ‘It worked.’ He could hear the obvious joy and relief in the man’s voice, but Eren shared none of it. He wanted answers and this man seemed to know them.

 

Patience at its end, Eren stood carefully and began to pace around the room. He searched the garbage cans, under the seats, in boxes and in every corner. There was nothing but dust and what he assumed were empty bullet shells.

 

_Nothing. There’s nothing here!_

 

In frustration, Eren slammed his hand against the wall and nearly fell over in the process. Startled at his sudden loss of balance, Eren looked up. Where his fist had been, there was now a gaping hole.

 

Terrified by his own strength, Eren recoiled sharply. The jagged edge of the metal wall cut through the tender flesh of his arm like butter. He hissed, clutching his wounded hand to his chest. But as he backed away from the hole, he tripped over a slick puddle of water and fell once again to the floor.

 

Instead of falling face first, Eren ended up tipping backwards, left hand held firmly behind him, ready to catch his fall. It would have worked, had a sheet of ice not exploded from beneath his palm when his hand connected with the ground. He intended to scream in shock, but all that came out was a weak grunt of terror.

 

Blood dribbled off his elbow and onto the ice before evaporating away with a hiss. Eren crawled away desperately, shaking hands held away from him. He stared at them in horror, watching the ice dance across the palm of his left hand and the wound on his right arm slowly stitching itself together.

 

Eren’s world had spun before when he fell from the Vita Chamber, but now it reeled like an untamed beast.

 

His breath came in short gasps, cracking his already parched lips. A copper taste rolled onto his tongue before that too turned to steam. His mind screamed at him, deafening all reasoning and calm words that came from his thoughts. With his head between his knees, Eren rocked, whimpers of fear barely muffled by the measly fabric of his pants.

 

 _Where am I? What’s wrong with me? What am I?! Someone, anyone…_ Eren felt bile rise in his throat. _Help me._

 

“-id! Hey, kid! Listen to me! Hey!” The mechanical voice fell on deaf ears. “You need to calm down! Eren!”

 

With that, the boy’s head snapped up. His eyes flew about the room before landing on the little plastic box on the floor beside his foot. Upon seeing the device and hearing the man’s voice, Eren’s sanity slowly came back to him.

 

“Are you back with us, Eren?” Weakly, he nodded. The trembling in his hands didn’t stop, but his thoughts cleared. “Good. That was quite the scare, was it not? I’m sorry I could not warn you sooner, but some other topics had to be clarified first.”

 

Eren glared at the radio. _You knew about this?! You knew that I’m a… a… freak?_

 

“Sorry again Eren, I will explain everything in due time, but I have some things I need to say. First things first, my name is Erwin Smith. And good news for you,” There was almost a smile in the man’s voice as he spoke, “I was hired to get you out of this god forsaken city.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I beta myself, so if you see any grammar issues or spelling errors, please let me know. If you have any questions about the Bioshock universe, I suggest you look up the bioshock wiki website OR if you want to avoid possible spoilers, I can let you know myself. Feel free to ask ^.^


	3. Down in the Depths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Sorry again Eren, I will explain everything in due time, but I have some things I need to say. First things first, my name is Erwin Smith. And good news for you,” There was almost a smile in the man’s voice as he spoke, “I was hired to get you out of this god forsaken city.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was going to be one big chapter, but I ended up splitting it. I intended to have the second half have the action and the first half have the plot information but I got carried away... And I got a nasty writers block for this. It just didnt want to form. So here it is... not exactly what I wanted but I'll get to where I want to be soon! Please let me know if ya have any questions about the game or story. :)
> 
> Also, slight warning if people have issues with needles. I barely get into it, but I do mention Eren having to inject himself with Eve in this chapter but it doesn't happen. So just a warning, it's not explicit.

 

“-i oi oi OI! Don’t take all the credit, blondie. This is my mission too!”

 

Eren heard the barely audible sigh before the man spoke. “Doctor. You’re back faster than expected.” He lacked all his previous enthusiasm.

 

“Don’t you ‘doctor’ _me_ , Erwin Smith. Were the _years_ spent cultivating and growing our friendship-”

 

“Partnership.” He smoothly cut in.

 

“- _friendship_ , _”_ she repeated with emphasis, “worth nothing to you?”

 

He blatantly ignored the question. “Did you finish with the delivery?”

 

 “Yes, I most certainly did! It should arrive at his room any minute.” There was a second’s pause. “Don’t change the subject!”

 

“Good, thank you.” Suddenly, the man sounded louder. Now, he properly faced the microphone and resumed talking with Eren.  His ‘partner’ bickered at him in the distance but the man paid her no mind. To Eren, the scene sounded… familiar to the pair. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that.

 

“Okay Eren, we’ve just sent a little gift your way. It should be there shortly, but until then, I’ll explain one or two things. Oh, and also, some introductions are in order. Doctor…”

 

“Yay, my turn!” If the rustling of papers was anything to go by, the woman forcefully sat herself down in front of the mic and cleared her throat loudly. “Hi kiddo! My name is Hanji Zoe-“

 

“Hanji, he can’t see you. Don’t wave at the camera.”

 

“-and I’m your friendly neighbourhood doctor. I specialize in anything and everything to do with the human condition. You can come to me for bullet wounds, broken bones, severed limbs, sexual diseases, sexual stimulants or even to hide a body. Not that you’ll need to hide a body in this city, considering they are like, on every street corner, but it’s not like you can just _throw one out the window_ if you know what I mean.” She snorted to herself and Eren could almost hear the way her lips pulled back into a smile. “If you seek emergency medical attention, please call ahead and book an appointment. If I do not answer the phone, I may be on my lunch break which can vary from roughly one to seven hours. Depends on the day. Hopefully, my secretary-“

 

“I’m not your secretary.”

 

“-will answer the phone in my absence.”

 

Eren stared incredulously at the plastic device. This woman was insane. From the way she giggled quietly into the device while the Erwin scolded her, Eren could tell she was missing a few screws in her head. Fantastic. That was absolutely what he needed right now.

 

 _At least Erwin is there to keep her in check._ He could only hope.

 

As the two bickered to each other over the radio, Eren tried to properly sit up. He swept his hand along the ground, ready to stand himself up when a little shard of glass cut through the meat of his palm. He hissed through his teeth, frustrated in having hurt himself once again, but as he lifted the hand to his face, Eren watched in fascination and mild horror as the small wound stitched itself shut, the chunk of glass falling harmlessly to the floor. Remembering what had happened before, Eren forgot about the smaller cut and immediately inspected his right forearm, where not minutes before an inch deep gash had spanned the length of it. The flesh was perfectly intact and Eren stared at it in awe.

 

“Nifty, isn’t it?” Hanji’s voice snapped him out of his trance and he looked back to the radio. “Usually the restorative symptoms of the Vita-Chamber fade away immediately after the patient is detached from the device, but with some, the restoration process seems to linger. I personally find it fascinating. But with you, it seems to be much stronger than with my other… patients.” The doctor hummed to herself. “Regardless, you should enjoy the healing ability while you can. Who knows how long it’ll last!”

 

Eren attempting to form a response but was interrupted when a large puff of gas exploded from behind him. He spun around quickly, ready to take action but all he faced was a previously invisible panel on the wall, slowly opening and retracting into said wall and producing a large, brown paper bag. Eren took a step back, hesitant as to the intent and purpose of the package.

 

Erwin’s voice once again took over the radio. “Ah, it’s arrived. Do not worry Eren, make your way over to the hatch. Inside, you will find a little care package from us. It will have some basic food and water as well as an Eve-”

 

The starving boy needed no further encouragement. He was shoving his hand into the brown paper bag before he even had time to register it. The smell that wafted to his nose roused a loud, angry moan from his stomach. Not even bothering to look at what was in his hands, Eren shoved the food into his dry mouth. Eren almost cried in his moment of bliss.

 

Before long, not a single crumb or drop of water remained and Eren was left staring at some rather suspicious looking substances. The first thing he noticed was a _very_ large looking needle with a glowing blue liquid inside the vial connected to it. Just looking at it made his skin crawl. Beside it was a vial of dark brown liquid and it looked just as unsettling as the first ‘gift’. Eren scratched his wrist again, feeling a discomfort that hadn’t been there before.

 

“Don’t look so intimidated kiddo. These things will help you, I promise.” Eren felt that he didn’t really want to take her word for it, but what choice did he have? “The little bottle in front of you is supposed to help your voice come back. We don’t know for sure if it works for everyone, after all, this is our first time testing the new recipe, but we’ll never know unless we try!” Comforting.

 

“From what I know of the substance Eren, it tastes just as appetizing as it looks. Perhaps it would have been wise to save some of the water we sent you.” The pity in Erwin’s voice was obvious. “Well, it’s too late for that now.”

 

“Just pinch your nose and toss it back like a good boy. The hard part comes up next!”

 

Knowing that the situation was out of his hands, Eren sighed before lifting the glass to his lips. The smell alone made his eyes water, but before he had time to really think about it, he was gulping it down. It took all his willpower to keep it in. He swallowed and swallowed, hands on his knees until finally, his mouth was free of the vile concoction but he gagged openly at the lingering aftertaste. He leaned back into the stiff leather of the bench, internally groaning in disgust.

 

“Did you swallow all of it Eren?” He weakly gave the doctor a thumbs up. She clicked her tongue at him. “Well done! If the medicine does its job and you don’t violently react to it within the next 17 minutes, all is well. Now,” she clapped her hands together, “for the hard part. But first, you are right handed, so you will need to use the needle on your left arm.”

 

Eren inhaled sharply enough that he was forced into a painful coughing fit. He has to _what?!_ After recovering for a few seconds, Eren looked at the camera, eyes wide and made some vague gestures about using the needle, then pointing at himself.

 

“Yes, it has to be you silly! Even if we were there, we can’t do it for you Eren. You have to know how to do it yourself in case you need to do it in a bad situation. I’ll walk you through how to do it, alright kiddo?”

 

He didn’t even have time to shake or nod his head before the doctor continued.

 

“First, take the needle in your right hand.” He did so, albeit with sweaty hands. “Put the pushy part under your thumb and face the needle towards you. You want to have your hand along the back of the syringe, that’s the tube part, and point the needle down towards you. No, no! Not at such a sharp angle! You’ll go right through your arm!” Eren groaned with the visual. “Okay, yeah that’s better. Now, you have to push it in until about half of the needle is gone, then you need to slowly force down the plunger, the pushy part. Can you do that?” Eren did nothing.

 

He stared nervously at the needle, watching the tip shake with the nervous tremors of his hand. If he could just do it the way Dr. Zoe said… then he could… he might be able to…

 

Eren’s shoulders sagged in defeat. He lowered the needle and hung his head, staring at it.

 

“Eren,” Hanji spoke softly which seemed rather uncharacteristic, “are you perhaps nervous around needles?” Eren raised his hand and shook it from side to side in a ‘sort of’ gesture. She hummed at him. He was fine with the concept of needles themselves, but actually holding one in his hand and using it on _himself_ was the issue.

 

Hanji blew out through her lips wetly, startling Eren slightly as the feedback came through the radio. “Erwin, you talk to him.”

 

“Is the doctor not the one better trained to calm her patients?”

 

Hanji could almost be heard rolling her eyes. “I think you’re overestimating my talents as a people person and underestimating the power of your voice. You _do_ realize that you can sound like liquid sex when you want to.” Overhearing their discussion, Eren gawked at the device, a blush burning his ears.

 

“But that is hardly appropriate in this situation, Hanji. We’re trying to calm him down, not seduce him.”

 

“Ehhhh…”

 

“Hanji.”

 

“What! You never know, he might-”

 

“I-I… No!” In his somewhat hasty and unexpected commentary, Eren ended up choking on his spit.

 

“Oh, look, the medicine seems to be kicking in. Goody!” Hanji giggled in excitement. Erwin sighed again. He seemed to do that often.

 

“Regardless, Eren it’s good that your voice seems to be coming back to you. But we need you to take the Eve Hypo. It’s important for your survival here.”

 

Eren swallowed many times, trying to prepare himself to speak. “C-can…t.” He gave into a fit of coughing.

 

“Cant? I know it’s hard, but Eren, it’s so important!” Hanji prodded.

 

“Is there something we can do to help calm you down, kid?”

 

“T-talk.” Eren licked his lips. “Tal…k. Wh-ngh.” He tried again. “W-where. Cid… city?”

 

“You want us to talk about where you are? Will that really help calm you down?” There was a slight hesitance in Erwin’s voice but Eren was determined to get an answer, regardless of the ‘distraction’ or not. He grunted out his yes.

 

“Very well. What can I say about this city of ours?” He let out a wry chuckle. “It is a city like no other. The first of its kind. The first of its kind, but I hope to God, the last as well.

 

“What makes it special isn’t the monsters running through its filthy streets, or the addicts on its corners. Nor is it the corruption of its leaders. Rapture is its own country with its own morals, religions and beliefs. People came here to run away from the egoism, the war and the poverty of society. It was made to be the escape from all the ‘filth’ and ‘disease’ above.”

 

“Abu… above?”

 

“Yes. Above. You see Eren, Rapture sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.”

 

“T-the ocean?” Eren couldn’t believe his ears. “I- we’re… under the o-ocean?”

 

“Amazing, is it not? Somehow, a city was built at the bottom of the ocean, and people decided to live there. It took five years to build this place, and that is an amazing accomplishment. But the time it took to fall apart,” his humorless laugh sent a chill up Eren’s spine, “that is a feat all in itself.”

 

Eren was filled with so much doubt about the truth in Erwin’s words. Where they really leagues under the ocean’s surface? How could humans thrive in a city without sunlight? How did the city stand the pressure of the depths?

 

He refused to believe it, but a voice at the back of his head nagged at him. _Hey, it could be possible. What do you know? You just shot fucking ice out of your palm. I don’t think it’s that far of a stretch, Eren._

 

“R-Really? You’re not lying to… me?”

 

Hanji cut in before Erwin could answer. “It’s the truth, kiddo! There is a window just out that door, go take a loo-”

 

“Hanji!”

 

But it was too late. Eren was already up and running to the door, throwing away the debris blocking it.

 

“Kid, no, don’t! Come back, I don’t have the cameras in that room working yet! Eren, it’s not safe, stop!”

 

He crashed through the door with explosive force. Eyes darting around the dark hall that he found himself in, Eren saw the light spilling across the floor at the end of the hall. Moving on their own accord, his feet carried him to the light. A small shadow slid across the floor. If he guessed correctly, it was a… fish?!

 

“Damnit! Hanji, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid! I’m going to the security room.” The radio was ambient sound to Eren, all words falling on deaf ears.

 

He skidded to a halt, just before the window. He took a deep breath, excitement curling his toes, before he let the light fall across his face. His knees nearly gave out from beneath him.

 

“Well, kiddo. While blondie over here is doing important stuff, I might as well say the magic words.” Joking tone completely lost, she spoke with pride in her voice. “Welcome to Rapture.”

 

The expanse of the vast underwater city glittered with lights. Colossal buildings of glass and steel towered over Eren, blocking out the pillars of light that came from the surface. Fish danced through the waters like the birds above, darting to and from each building as they made their way throughout the city. Some even came to the window and nibbled along the edges, their bright colours seeming to glow with the city itself. Eren stumbled to the glass and placed his hand on the cool surface, staring at the lights in awe. The city felt so alive, so untamed. So familiar. But the silence of the ocean was deafening.

 

Eren’s vision slowly blurred and he felt the tears fall from his eyes. There was a pain in his chest but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was just a bit… bittersweet.

 

 _Mom. Mom, I did it. I came to the ocean. I kept my promise._ When his lips parted in a smile, he tasted salt. _I kept my promise._

 

A sudden image flashed in his head, and Eren went rigid with shock. One moment he was staring at the tranquil city, the next, all he saw was blood. There was blood on his hands, blood on his knees, on the floor, on the… knife?

 

His hand fell away from the glass, the pain in his chest growing into something foreign and overwhelming. Eren’s breathing came a little faster and his head began to spin. All the strength left his legs and Eren stumbled to his knees, one hand on the glass, the other clutching his chest. The pain spread his across his front, his heart thumping viciously. The images behind the eyelids he didn’t remember closing, consumed his thoughts.

 

There was a ghostly white hand in his. Someone’s tears soaked his shoulder, their dark hair brushing his nose. There was fire. There was ice. There was screaming, there was blood, there was gunfire and then there was nothing.

 

_I kept… my promise?_

 

As quickly as the images came, they vanished, leaving Eren on the floor with his head in his hands. Recognizing that he was back in reality, he took a shaky breath and looked back out over the city. Its twinkling lights calmed him, a nostalgic feeling forcing out the panic and confusion in his heart. Eren closed his eyes and breathed deeply, focusing on the light under his eyelids for a moment. Finally, Eren looked down to where he radio squawked at his side where he’d dropped it. He reached for it slowly, unsure the moment of his episode had passed.

 

“Eren, I have the hallway camera work- Why are you on the ground? Are you alright, were you attacked?!”

 

“Mr. S-Smith, I’m alright.” He quietly spoke over the man. His voice was raspy and dry sounding, but at least he could form words properly now. He spoke slowly and carefully. “I just… something happened. I saw something but I can’t explain what is was. There were these pictures in my head. Like memories? But… I don’t remember them?”

 

He was answered with silence from the radio. Thinking the device was broken from the short fall, he started to inspect it but the man spoke up. “I see. Did anything else… happen?”

 

“Not really. But my chest started to hurt. A lot. I couldn’t breathe. Is this the reaction Dr. Zoe...?” He ran out of breath but his question was obvious to the doctor. 

 

“No no, kiddo. You would be bleeding from your eyes if you were reacting.” She paused. “You’re not bleeding from your eyes, are you?”

 

Eren reached up and felt the dampness on his cheeks. For a moment, he panicked but then he remembered the tears. His heart squeezed once more with conflicted emotions. Eren let out a shaky chuckle. “No, I’m not.”

 

Hanji let out apuff of air. Eren hoped it was in relief.

 

“But, are you okay? And I don’t mean… physically.” Erwin’s voice sounded somewhat tight, but his worry was evident.

 

Eren barked out a laugh. “I’m not so sure…”

 

Radio clutched in his hand, Eren rolled back off his knees and sat on the floor, staring out over the city. “So this is Rapture. I don’t think I could ever get tired of this view. There is so much to look at, it’s-” He stopped short. The entire city suddenly went black. He could see nothing. It was like someone had drawn a curtain over the window he was viewing from. Eren blinked in surprise and stood up to try and see around it.

 

“Um, Erwin? Did the light’s just go out…?” Hanji was the one who answered.

 

“Oh no, you’ve just met the local wildlife! Eren, meet Bean!” She leans into the mic to whisper darkly, “He’s one of my favourites.”

 

Eren’s confusion lasted only a second. The screen of black was moving slightly just outside the window. As Eren started to notice the detail of the black mass in front of him, a large eye opened right in front of his face and stared him down. It blinked once.

 

Eren recoiled with a muffled shriek.

 

_Too much ocean, TOO MUCH OCEAN._

 

The slick tile at his feet had him slipping around as he fell backwards, arms flailing. He would have fallen over had a pair of icy hands not braced his shoulders. Rigid in shock, Eren slowly turned his head. He was met with a yellow, decaying smile and bright red lips. His eyes grew wide in fear.

 

“Hello sweet cheeks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like and support the idea of a nonbinary Hanji, but I had a lot of trouble writing it. Also, Hanji being female is relevant to a plot point I have later. So yeah. Maybe I'll practice with a side story I have in mind. We shall see!!


	4. The Uninvited Guest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The slick tile at his feet had him slipping around as he fell backwards, arms flailing. He would have fallen over had a pair of icy hands not braced his shoulders. Rigid in shock, Eren slowly turned his head. He was met with a yellow, decaying smile and bright red lips. His eyes grew wide in fear.
> 
>  
> 
> “Hello sweet cheeks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here starts my game of tag. Blame the hours of Outlast gameplay walkthroughs for this. Oh, and guess who?

 

 

Eren’s lungs burned. The blood thrummed through his temples, his feet pounding across the floor as he sprinted through the abandoned hallways. Sweat dripped into his eyes and mouth, but he didn’t care. Not when the second set of footsteps behind him continued to grow closer.

 

He exploded through a door into a pitch black room and slammed it behind him, pausing to catch his breath. Through the haze of his panic and fear, he managed to squeeze out some barely understandable words into the radio.

 

“Mr… Smith? What was… that?” Eren tasted copper when he spoke. His lips had cracked and now bled openly but he ignored it.

 

“-anji, I thought you said that this building was abandoned!”

 

Apparently, his question fell on deaf ears.

 

“Well, it WAS as of twenty four hours ago!”

 

“What happened then?” The man continued to curse aloud. “Check all the rooms! I hacked into every camera in the entire building, so use them! Tell me how she got in here!”

 

“Just give me a moment! I’m trying to figure that out- oh shit.” Hanji’s voice dropped as she swore aloud. “Erwin.”

 

“What?”

 

“Erwin, come here.”

 

Eren had to strain to hear over his laboured breathing. He managed to quiet down some, but from what he heard next, he almost wished he hadn’t.

 

“Oh, gods no.”

 

Those words sent an ice cold wave of fear down Eren’s spine. They managed to punch the breath he so desperately needed out of him. The playful giggling coming from the hallway was slowly growing louder, and that did nothing to ease his mind.

 

“Come out, come out!”

 

Eren did his best to compose himself, but the hand holding the radio near his mouth shook violently.

 

“Mr. Smith!” He whispered viciously into the radio, “What is going… on? What the… hell was that?!”

 

There was a small gasp from the radio. Eren had startled the two with the strength of his voice. He could hear Erwin sit down heavily. He heard a soft click of what he would assume were glasses being removed before the man spoke, “Sorry, kid. It’s just…” he huffed out a dark laugh. “We’ve got some bad news for you.”

 

Hanji snorted in the background. “That’s a bit of an understatement.”

 

“Regardless, it’s not going to matter unless we get you out of this situation first.”

 

“That woman… what was she?”

 

“That was a splicer.” Eren was about to ask what that was before Erwin continued. “Splicers are the residence of this city, but they are the vermin as well. They are addicts to the drug called Adam.”

 

“A-adam? You mentioned that befo-” There was a creak in the floorboards behind the door and Eren instantly slapped a hand across his mouth. He muffled the radio against the measly fabric on his leg, trying to keep silent. He didn’t dare breathe as he waited. The blood pounded in his ear as he waiting for something, anything.

 

“Fooound you!” Anything but that.

 

The woman’s gnarled hand crashed through the door next to his head and wrapped itself like a vise around his neck. He screamed in terror, dropping the radio to claw at the arm that held him prisoner. Kicking out and attempting to pry her arm away was a waste of effort. Her uncanny strength held him in place and she refused to budge. His nails tore into her flesh and she hissed at him through the door, but her grip didn’t falter. It wasn’t until he sank his teeth into her arm that she withdrew with a scream. The way it changed into a cheery giggle had his stomach twisting with nausea.

 

“Ooooh, I’ve found a fiery one!”

 

He stood, gathering his strength and courage before charging through the door with a roar. The door slammed into the woman, forcing her back. She fell to the ground with a thump and Eren took the chance and sprinted past her, going back the way he came. He hoped the familiar ground would help him.

 

“Mr. Smith, what do I do?!” Trying to calm himself down wasn’t really an option anymore. He screamed into the radio, begging for some help.

 

“Kiddo, you have to use the Plasmid!” The doctor’s suggestion confused him.

 

“The- JESUS!” Eren stopped short and shrieked into the radio, barely managing to dodge the woman’s gnarled claw as it came down to swipe at his face. He fell onto some old boxes, softening his fall somewhat, but he was already up and moving, throwing the boxes into her path to slow her down. She had come out of nowhere, appearing behind him suddenly. The only warning he had to her presence was the awful stench that radiated from her. Eren thanked himself for his quick reflexes. “The what?!”

 

“The Plasmid! Use the Winter Blast! That spell you used before in the other room, the thing that froze the floor? Point your hand at her face and FREEZE HER!” There was obvious excitement in the woman’s voice as she explained what do to. Eren told himself to hold in his irritation at her enthusiasm and yell at her for it later. If there was a later that is. “You don’t have much Eve, so you’ve only got one or two chances to freeze her! Don’t waste it!”

 

Eren stopped on his heel and lifted his left hand in front of him, palm facing the advancing woman. He closed his eyes, cringing into his shoulder and waited. And waited…

 

“Sweet cheeks– my, what beautiful fingers you have – are you offering me your hand?” The woman giggled softly, the gentleness in her voice out of place. “Sorry love, but I’m already taken. I’ve got myself a honey at home, just waiting for me to cook dinner! I wonder,” She put a hand on her hip, and the other to her lips as she pondered something deeply, “would he taste better in a soup or as the main course?”

 

“It didn’t _work_?!” In his panic, Eren paid the woman’s rambling no mind and continued to back away. He crashed into a few things, but he didn’t dare let the woman leave his sights. Thankfully, she continued to ramble to herself, seemingly forgetting that Eren was even there.

 

“That’s because you’re doing it wrong, kiddo! When you use Plasmids, you really have to focus on it; you don’t just point and shoot!” The childish tone brought Eren to the edge of his sanity.

 

“But that’s WHAT YOU TOLD ME TO DO, GOD DAMNIT?!”

 

“Hey now, kiddo, let’s not bring God into this… You know Erwin, I liked him better when he couldn’t spea-” Eren growled in exasperation and desperately looked around for something, anything, to arm himself with.

 

Luckily, he had backed himself into some rusty tool kit and it had toppled over in his struggle. A wrench lay a few feet away from him and Eren’s thoughts focused only on the metal mace of (possible) salvation. With all his might, he launched himself towards it, looking away from the woman. After a few desperate seconds of clawing wildly for the wrench, tears of relief almost fell down his face when his fingers closed around the rusted handle. With newfound determination, Eren brought himself shakily to his feet, weapon clutched tightly in his fist. The woman smiled widely, breaking away from her rant and seeing the tool in his hand. He swung it around him in warning but she just cackled at him.

 

“Oo, playing hard to get are we?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “ _I love playing games.”_

 

“Hanji, just help the kid for _fucking sake_!”

 

“Alright, alright. He probably won’t trust me…” Her voice suddenly dropped, tone becoming more serious. “Eren, listen closely. I need you to think very hard about how you used the Plasmid in the other room. Think about the fear you felt. Think about that fear coming down your arm and resting in your palm.” It was rather difficult to do so while running for your life, but Eren managed somehow to do as she said. “Now, I want you to think about the ice. I want you to feel the ice. I want you to _BE_ the ice!”

 

 _Think about the ice… feel the- WAIT._ “Are you kidding me right now!?”

 

“I’m being _serious_! See! See! Erwin, he doesn’t trust me! I told you this would happen!”

 

“Eren, just listen to Hanji! It really works as she said!” The older man’s voice came out strained and somewhat muffled, like something was clutched tightly between his teeth. “You have to focus your emotions into the form of a plasmid and then literally throw it at your enemy!”

 

The kid groaned into his palm, sweat dripping steadily off his forehead as he prepared to charge past the woman. He failed miserably when doing so and ended up running straight into her arms.

 

“Now, now sweet cheeks! It’s not very polite to run from a lady like that!” Her yellow teeth slipped out over her lip in a pout. With all his might, Eren threw himself from her arms, surprising them both and ran back the way he came. He was just running in circles!

 

“Eren, it’s the only way! You need to freeze her!”

 

“Kid, listen to her! Try to use the plasmid!”

 

Finally, Eren’s mind seemed to snap. “AHHHG FINE. God damnit!” He sprinted to a corner and pressed his back against the wall and focused. The fire in his chest boiled like never before, but somehow he smothered it and drew from its power. A chill ran down his arm, causing the hairs to stand on end. Eren could feel the pure energy thrum beneath his skin until it pooled in his hand. Opening his tightly shut eyes, Eren looked down and saw the small flakes of ice forming on his fingertips.

 

“I-I did it! I DID IT!” Untameable hope and awe swam through him. He was using a Plasmid!

 

“Good! Good, Eren! Now throw it at the splicer!” Erwin’s praise sent a shot of pride up his spine, but he had no time to bask in his own glory.

 

“Yeah! Go get ‘em, tiger! Throw that snowball at the gal!” _YEAH! Next time I see that frea- Did she say snowball?_

 

“Ooo, sweet cheeks, your hand looks strange. You should see a doctor about that.” Eren shrieked in surprise at the voice that whispered in his ear and slammed his hand against the wall to push himself away. Frost exploded against the sheet metal, uselessly covering the wall in little icicles that already started to melt.

 

“Oh! So pretty!”

 

And off he went again, playing chase. He just wasted the Plasmid against the wall in his panic. What Hanji said ran through his mind. _‘… you’ve only got one or two chances to freeze her! Don’t waste it!’_

 “Fuck. FUCK MOTHERFUCK, FUCK. _FUCK_ _ME_. Fuck ME, fuck YOU, fuck HER, FUCK THIS!” Eren wanted to cry. He almost did. Almost.

 

The splicer behind him clicked her tongue. “What is with all of this ‘fucking’?” She paused in her advance, cocking her head to the side and blinked at him. “Are you into adultery perhaps?” With terrifying speed, she took a few steps and appeared at his side. She threw her arms around him in a bone-crushing grip. He gaged on the stench that enveloped him, breathing coming in short, pained gasps.

 

“Enough, boy. I’m getting bored here, so can we just call it a day? I left the stove on.”  Eren struggled, but his legs only flailed in open air. Falling back on what worked before, he sunk his teeth into the palm that smothered his mouth. She dropped him, clicking her tongue in irritation. “ _Again_ , with the biting!” There was no humor in her tone and it was horrifying.

 

“Get away from me!” Eren kicked out, causing her to retreat somewhat as he rushed under her outstretched arms. He swung the wrench, his arm vibrating with the force of the impact as the blunt weapon connected with the woman’s arm. She shrieked as the bone splintered audibly. “E-Erwin! Whatever you’re doing, hurry UP!” He swung again but missed as she angrily batted the wrench away.

 

“I know, I know! Just _please_ try to hold out for another minute… I’m almost…”

 

The woman stomped along behind Eren, no longer twirling and spinning happily. Now, she paced towards him with determination, staring down her prey as she stalked him through the dark hallways. Even with all the debris he threw behind him and the doors he slammed through to get away, she managed to keep pace with Eren, always the same distance away and never falling behind. The terror that Eren felt as he cowered away from her charging form couldn’t be described with simple words.

 

“Got it! Okay Eren, listen to me! I need you to run over to the far wall on the left, do you see it?”

 

He hadn’t even realized that he had entered a dead end. The door behind him stood no chance when he slammed it behind him. The splicer just clawed through it like paper and lunged towards Eren’s feet. Eren fell forward heavily, kicking at the grip on his ankle. His foot connected, and he was free. “WHICH LEFT?!”

 

“Your left!” Eren crawled away from the woman on his hands and knees. Realizing he was getting nowhere fast, he pulled his feet beneath him and sprinted to the far wall. “Okay, good! Now, the panel you’re looking for should be behind those boxes- there! Just beside it is a button. I need you to press it!” Eren does so without hesitation.

 

Flashing red lights consume the room and a siren nearly blasts his hearing to pieces. Hands on his ears, Eren looks around in panic and got as far away from the speaker as possible. “What did I just do?!”

 

“You just set off the alarm for the building and the armed military bots will be there any minute!”

 

“I think I’m going to cry.”

 

“No Eren, it’s a good thing!”

 

“ _How is this a good thing?!”_

 

“Because I just finished hacking into them. They have been reprogrammed to fight for you!”

 

Eren didn’t even know what to say at this point so he chose not to speak.

 

As if to prove Erwin’s point, two flying sentry bots teetered into the room. The beams of light fell onto the injured splicer, and with a little musical tone, began to fire rounds into the woman.

 

Her screams of pain could easily be heard over the raging alarms and gunfire but Eren could only watch in horror as the woman fell into a puddle of her own blood and lay still. Seemingly satisfied with their work, the sentry bots sang out to him before buzzing away, leaving Eren to stare blankly at the woman on the floor. It was over so quickly that it felt surreal.  _That... that can't be it. After all of that..._

 

Eren felt his stomach churn. He turned away from the gore and knelt on the ground, still clutching the wrench like a lifeline. Nausea swept through him but he tried to swallow it down. The blood pounded in his ears, drowning out everything. 

 

“Hey… kid. You okay there? I’m truly sorry about- HEY KID LOOK OUT!”

 

Eren barely turned in time to see the bloodied woman standing over him, something sharp and glinting in her grip. “You little BASTARD!” And with all the strength left in her body, she brought the weapon down.

 

Every drop of fear, nausea, confusion and anger he had boiling inside flew down his fingers as he reached out to protect himself. The Plasmid crackled like lightning as it flew from the tips and encased her in ice before she could even bat an eye. She stood still, like a statue of death, arms still poised above her head. When she realized what had happened, her ice encased expression, frozen in its cruel snarl, became far less intimidating. Perhaps it was the terror that started to pool in her eyes.

 

“Kid, do it now! Hit her with the wrench!” Eren took a deep breath, steeled himself and lifted the weapon above his head.

 

His ocean blue eyes stared into her dark black ones as he brought the wrench down in its killing arc. He saw those eyes widen in fear, he saw them plead for mercy and he saw the sudden crack that split through her face as she shattered into thousands of shards when metal met ice.

 

And just like that, the woman literally fell to pieces at his feet. The sounds of broken glass filled the room, but Eren didn’t bother to listen. He was too busy staring at the place she had stood not a second before.

 

“W-well done Eren. You did it. You’re safe now.” Erwin sighed into the radio, the relief evident in his voice.

 

Eren had yet to relax from his stance. His hands refused to release the bloodied wrench, knuckles white from gripping the handle with all his terrified might. It took some time, but eventually, with a thump he fell to the ground in relief and exhaustion, the wrench finally slipping to the floor with a clatter. For minutes after, no one spoke a word.

 

However, the pregnant silence was disrupted by soft giggling as Hanji spoke into the radio. “That was _exciting!_ ”

 

  

* * *

 

 

Steam pooled out from the shower, spreading through the open space of the bedroom. It clashed with the frigid air, dancing around as it helped warm up the room as intended. A young man stepped out from the shower and quickly removed the towel from its hook before drying himself off.

 

He ran the towel through his wet hair, shaking the droplets over the floor where they joined the puddles at his feet. He was swift and precise with his movements, taking as little time as possible before he wrapped the towel tightly around his waist and entered the chilly bedroom.

 

The lights of the city shone beneath him, casting lazy beams of light across the ceiling. His shadow cut through the light, causing a ghoulish figure to crawl across the walls as the young man approached the window. He placed his hand on the glass and wistfully watched the city beneath him. Seeing the life thrive in the buildings that sat below his feet brought a coil of disgust to his stomach.

 

Levi stared out over his city and thought of his followers, the mindless and blind people who starved for money, love and utopia. But looking out over the glowing steel towers, all he saw was his prison and his keepers.

 

 _Filthy._ The raven sighed deeply, breath fogging the glass and blocking the city from his sight.

 

 _I wish you were here brat._ Levi gazed sadly at the glass, eyes finally falling to scar that circled the base of his thumb. His heart squeezed thinking about its cause. His hand fell away, returning to his side heavily as he ignored the loneliness in his heart, feeling it turn into something bitter. _But I’m glad you’re not. You deserved so much_ -

 

Two short rasps on the door have Levi jolting away from the window. He hadn’t heard anyone coming down the hallway and Levi cursed himself for getting so lost in his thoughts. He turned to the large door behind him, pulling the damp towel protectively over his shoulders and waited for the guest to enter. After a few seconds of silence, Levi remembered that his none of his keepers actually bothered to knock, except for one person. His mouth twitched at its corners and he loudly called out, “Come in, Stuart.”

 

Immediately after, the door swings open, hinges groaning against the weight of the thick metal they carried. A single man entered the room, tray in hand. He bows deeply, mouse brown hair defying gravity, the tray steady in his grip as he greeted Levi. “Good evening, Young Master. I have your tea prepared as you asked.”

 

“Thank you.” Levi was honest in his thanks. He approached the butler, returning the towel to his waist as he reached for the steaming cup. He inhaled the rich scent before taking a sip. He gave in to a small smile, knowing it was hidden behind the cup. The tea was perfect, as to be expected.

 

Regardless, Levi felt the careful eyes watching him. He glanced to his butler, trying to judge the emotions hidden behind the man’s eyes but he saw nothing. Remembering their first meeting and the tea stains he had left along the walls and floor, he knew what the man was waiting for. He curtly nodded his head at the butler. “It is delicious. Well done.”

 

The man bowed again, tucking the tray under his arm with a gloved hand. “I am relieved.” He stood straight once more, and patiently waited as Levi sat on his bed and finished the tea. Levi took his time and enjoyed the company, regardless of how silent it was. The butler was the only one to give him any peace of mind in this beautifully decorated prison cell of his. He just wished he knew who the man actually was. Levi only knew his name. He hadn’t even seen the man’s face.

 

The simple, white porcelain mask he wore every day hid his face from Levi, but when asked, he refused to remove it. He was under orders to never remove the mask when in the presence of either of his masters, be it young or old. Eventually, Levi had given up trying.

 

“Are you finished with your tea, Young Master?”

 

Levi blinked, and looked down into the cup to notice that he had indeed emptied it. “Yes, I have. Has there been any news from the bastard downstairs for today? It's been uncharacteristically long since his last ‘order’.” Levi’s tone was mocking, somewhat playful in his displeasure at the subject, but he lost it all when the man beside him became rigid like stone. He looked at the floor in dismay and readied himself for what he knew was coming.

 

“The Master has informed me that your next client will arrive at the top of the hour.” There was an uncomfortable pause before he robotically continued, “The client paid the extra fee.”

 

Levi’s shoulders tensed and a shiver of disgust rolled up his spine. Stiffly, he turned his back to the butler and ground through his teeth, “I see, thank you Stuart. You may leave now.” There was silence as the man stood across the bed from him, unmoving. Irritation spiking, Levi glared over his shoulder at the man. “Was there anything else?” he spat out.

 

“No, Young Master. Excuse me.” The butler’s footsteps retreated to the door, and he knocked twice sharply. The locks on the door squealed as they were forced open. Levi could hear the man’s footsteps and the door start to swing shut.

 

The exhaustion that overcame Levi was intense but not unfamiliar. He sank to the satin covered bed, bringing a knee to his chest and a hand to his face. His long, drawn out sigh was forced past his fingers and he raked a hand across his wary face. Levi prepared himself to stand up, ignoring the shaking of his hands when he heard some softly spoken words from the door behind him.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Shocked, Levi turned around on the bed and faced his butler who looked as straight-laced as ever, emotionless mask staring back at him. The butler stood still in the door way, watching from behind his artificial face as if nothing had been said. “I-I’m sorry, Stuart. What was that?”

 

“It is nothing, Young Master, I apologize.” He bowed deeply and reached for the iron bound door beside him. As it swung shut, the man spoke over his shoulder, voice tight. “Please inform me when you are finished your preparations. I will tend to your room.” And with that, the door slammed closed, steel bolts slamming into their sockets and locking the younger man inside.

 

Still somewhat shocked, Levi relaxed onto his bed, pressing his back into the silken sheets and rolled his fingers through his partially dried hair. After a moment of thought, he chuckled darkly.

 

 _I guess this repulsive world hasn’t corrupted everyone._ His cruel smile fell away as he locked away his emotions behind his own type of mask. He stared into the mirror on his ceiling, looking at the man on the bed who wore his skin. He clicked in disgust and rolled off the bed to prepare himself, lips pulled back in a dark snarl. _But it’s only a matter of time before it breaks us all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might bump up the rating in the next chapter. We'll see. I will tag anything if necessary but I shouldn't have to. It all depends if I change my mind for plotline or not. :/ Please let me know what you think!


	5. Two Steps Forward and Falling Over Backwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren had yet to relax from his stance. His hands refused to release the bloodied wrench, knuckles white from gripping the handle with all his terrified might. It took some time, but eventually, with a thump he fell to the ground in relief and exhaustion, the wrench finally slipping to the floor with a clatter. For minutes after, no one spoke a word.
> 
> However, the pregnant silence was disrupted by soft giggling as Hanji spoke into the radio. “That was exciting!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be completely honest, I don't really like the way this chapter came out. I hit a major writers block for it and I'm not 100% sure why. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I am still somewhat unsure of how I want everyone's emotions to fit together yet. But I'm working on it! I have the plot planned out, its just the glue holding it together that is giving me trouble...
> 
> Also, one of the other reasons this came out late was because I (unwisely) asked my dad for help with the phrasing of one of my sentences in a previous chapter, and now he is interested in reading it. I fucked up. I fuuucked up guys. Soon to be explicit male romance/smut and my dad wanted to read it. So yeah... I had to throw it under the rug for awhile. AHA. *screaming internally*
> 
> No smut yet though. Soon! Oh, and I'm introducing a new character. Guess who?

It was Erwin who spoke up about Hanji’s comment, but Eren wasn’t listening. The scolding voice became ambient sound while Eren stared at his feet. His skin felt like it was on fire, but everything was cold. It was so cold. His hand thrummed with his racing heartbeat, and it was almost painful, but he welcomed the sensation. Everything was burning, but he felt so numb, so the pain helped ground him to reality. It helped prove that he was… alive. That he had survived. That he had _won_.

 

It was all over. He was safe so he should feel relieved, right? But…

 

Too much. This was too much. _I need to- I need-_

 

Eren wobbled on the floor. His legs felt like lead beneath him, binding him to the filthy tile. They refused to listen to his orders to stand up, to carry him, to do _anything_. He just wanted them to stop the trembling that violently shook the rest of him.

 

He lifted a clammy hand to his face, trying to wipe at the skin under his eyes. It was only when his hand fell away damp that he realized he hadn’t yet blinked. He just stared and stared at that spot - that _void_ \- where she once stood. He couldn’t even stomach to look at the shattered remains crunching beneath his knees.

 

The sound of his own name caused him to warily raise his head. “Eren, come on kid. We need to get you moving. Our time is short here, so we need to get a head start.”

 

He mumbled something incoherent and unheard. Eren wasn’t even really aware of the fact that he had spoken, too distracted by the salt water that dribbled from his chin.

 

“Before that, how’s your arm feeling kiddo? Is it all tingly and such?” Hanji’s excited voice felt like nails on a chalk board. Eren’s head fell forward but he caught himself with his hands. He rubbed the tender flesh into his eyes, trying to massage some of the soreness away. They felt heavy and dry, regardless of the moisture that spilled from them. His eyes felt… dead. His eyes felt _dead. Like… like her._

His breathing hitched as he struggled to keep everything where it should be, not that there was much left from before anyways. His body curled inward and he wrapped his arms around himself, trying to rock the unwanted feelings away. Eren just wanted to escape. He wanted to crawl out of his own disgusting skin and hide where no one could find him. He just wanted to be alone! But they kept talking to him and he felt the emotions coiling deep within his gut.

 

“How did it feel to a Plasmid after so long? Wait, you probably don’t even remember what it was like the first time, right?”

 

 _Stop. Stop it._ He could feel the cold sweat slither down his back as he hunched over his knees trying to breathe.

 

“Kiddo? You alright there? Oh dear, Eren you don’t look so good, are you feeling nauseous?” Hanji hummed quietly in worry. “Erwin, do you think he’s going through Eve withdrawal?”

 

“Perhaps. We sent the Eve hypo his way, so he can replenish himself once he returns to the room.”

 

 _Stop talking. Please, stop._ His fingernails cut bloody crescents into his upper arms, hands aching from their vise like grip.

 

“That’s true. Hey kiddo, we gotta get you moving. We have a lot to prepare you for before this all hits the fan, alright? Come on, get on your feet and put one step in front of the other. We’ll get you a hypo with Eve soon! But time is of the essence! It wouldn’t be good for you to meet another friendly down there!” She wryly chortled into the mic, but Eren held none of her humor. In fact, her voice alone was causing the hairs on his arms to stand on end.

 

“…ut up.” Again, he was unheard. Hanji and Erwin continued to talk facts to him as they debated their next move. Yanking his face from the palm of his hands, Eren pulled the radio to his lips and snarled fiercely into it. “Shut. Up.”

 

“E-Eren?” The doctor’s voice sounded hurt and shocked, but the volatile emotions in his heart couldn’t be held back any longer. He let the floodgates go.

 

“I JUST KILLED SOMEBODY!” Venom and rage rolled off the boy’s tongue, but his misery enveloped him whole. Eren felt it soak through to his fingertips and he watched the flakes of ice dance around his sweaty palm before disappearing completely. He took a deep, shaky breath through his trembling lips and willed himself to ignore the tears that seeped from his eyes. “Don’t you… don’t make me just b-brush that off.”

 

“Oh, Eren…”

 

“Don’t pity me either! I know!” He grit his teeth against the crack in his voice.  “I know… that it was either me or her. I am aware of that, really. And honestly, I don’t regret that, it’s just…” He barked out a humorless laugh. “I’m in some strange city under the ocean, I don’t know why I’m here or how I even got here in the first place. I just woke up after god knows how long, discovered I have some sort of super powers and inhuman strength and the first god-damn thing I do is _kill someone!”_ He felt his momentum build as he released all of this off his chest and Eren found it so painful yet so satisfying. “But you know what scares me the most out of all this bullshit?” Eren gaze bore the radio, as if trying to stare through it to the pair who listened in contrite silence. He fed from his anger, using it to steady his tone as he pressed on. “What _really_ _fucking_ scares me is that this feeling is familiar. The feeling of killing someone to protect myself is fucking _familiar!”_ His voice became dangerously calm. “Why, Mr, Smith? Dr. Zoe?”

 

He waited for them to say something, anything. But they remained silent. They said absolutely nothing and it froze his burning blood. Eren’s heart clenched, the rage in his chest suffocating it.

 

“Erwi-” The radio clicked and even the static fell silent. It was blatantly obvious that they had just pressed the mute. If he wasn’t so volatile, he would have laughed aloud.

 

Eren stood up from the ground, all his pent up energy causing him to pace the room, the glass of the woman’s remains crunching under his feet. His legs held him steadily, his passion and emotion giving him strength once more.

 

Why was he so _angry?!_ Mr. Smith and the Doctor only wanted to help him! Sure, they might know more about what’s going on than him, but that’s only natural right? After all, Eren had lost his memories, but they had been right there from the start to be at his side to help guide him through this.

 

_“Would you please trust us?”_

 

Even though it was obvious that they were hiding something from him, there must be a reason for it, right? And before, he had even walked away when they were telling Eren about himself, but he just brushed off their warnings. This wasn’t their fault. It was _his._ So why was he so god damn _angry_ at them?

 

“ _All anger is based in fear.”_

A soothing voice at the back of his mind gently cut through the haze of his fury. _Mom?_   Her loving voice felt like a cool blanket on his emotions. He felt how her words smothered all the ire and pain in his chest, and he took another deep breath and remembered her musical voice.

 

_“All anger is based in fear, my love. So ask yourself, what are you scared of?”_

As usual her words of wisdom brought him back to reality and grounded him. Even when she wasn’t by his side, she was right there with him. And he’d never been more thankful.

 

Smiling tightly to himself, Eren stopped pacing and leaned against the wall before sliding down it with a thump. _What am I afraid of?_ Thoughts raced through his mind. They dashed about, passing through almost too quickly to process but somehow he managed to tame them. He took a long, hard breath before he dove headfirst into the writhing pit of his fears.

 

_Well let’s see. I’m scared of this city. I’m scared of its people. I’m scared of what I’m supposed to do. I’m scared of the fact that I don’t remember a portion of my life and that these people do. I’m scared of the fact that I have to kill to survive but others want to kill me for fun. I’m scared of these powers that I have and I’m scared as to how I got them and how I’ve used them. And most importantly, I’m scared of who I was._

_So yeah. I’m pretty much scared of everything._

 

Out of everything he could and couldn’t remember, he remembered the feel of her fingers in his hair and her lips on his forehead. He focused on this, even running his own fingers across his scalp and relaxed against the metal sheet at his back. After a few moments of feeling the vice on his chest release its grip, Eren raised the radio to his lips once again.

 

“Sorry.” He waited for some sort of reply for a moment but he heard nothing, so he continued regardless if the two were listening or not. “I’m sorry. I’m just…” He chucked dryly to himself. “I’m still getting the hang of this, you know? Even though I apparently needed it, I shouldn't have lashed out. So I’m sorry.”

 

The radio clicked again and the static of the ventilation came through behind Hanji as she spoke. “I-it’s alright. We’re sorry too, kiddo. That was a bit much and we pushed you a bit too quickly. We’re at fault here as well.” Eren could hear the doctor smile to him through the speaker and the relief in her voice was obvious. He could even hear Erwin let out a puff of air, no doubt holding it as Eren tried to regain himself. “Is there anything we can do right now to make this easier at all? We’re quite limited as to what we can do but…”

 

Something to make this easier. Wouldn’t that be nice? Eren was silent for a minute or two before a though occurred to him and he blinked in surprise. Why hadn’t he thought of this before? “Yes actually, I think there might be. I have a question.” The anxiety he felt tickling the bottom of his stomach was a surprise but he ignored it ask asked nervously, “H-how old am I?”

 

There was an uncomfortable pause while he waited for his answer. The butterflies grew in size but when he heard the doctor take a breath, everything stilled.

 

“Erwin? Do you want to explain to him?” Eren huffed quietly, laughing at himself for being so nervous. Regardless, the butterflies still came back while he waited.

 

There was a squeak of a chair as Erwin took her place at the microphone. “Well kid, are you sure you want to hear this right now? It could make things worse for you.”

 

Eren hummed in consideration but he stuck with his decision. “To be honest, this is probably the best time to tell me. I’ve got all this,” he gestured to himself casually in a broad gesture, “pretty much under control. You could almost call me calm.”

 

“If you insist.” The dramatic pause almost made Eren roll his eyes but before he had the chance to, Erwin answered him. “Physically, you are twenty-two years old.”

 

“Oh. Well, crap.” That tight feeling in his chest was coming back, but he forced himself to breathe through it. Erwin made a questioning noise, so Eren took a moment to explain himself. “Well, I think my last clear thought was when I was… perhaps twelve? Thirteen? The last thing I remember was my mom...” Eren clicked his tongue in irritation at deep ache in his heart thinking about it. He quickly changed the subject. “I… I _know_ I’m older than that and I believe I have memories after that, but I pretty sure I can’t remember them just yet.” Eren chewed on his lip after dragging a hand over his face. He was… confused definitely. But for some reason, he wasn’t exactly surprised with the news and that was… an interesting felling. “And by can’t I mean something is stopping me from remembering. It’s like there is this large wall between me and my memories.”

 

Hanji spoke up, curiosity getting the better of her as she processed this information. “Well, memory loss isn’t that unusual considering what happened to you before you went into the Vita Chamber. Not to mention you were in that brilliant contraption for a few years. Everything else…  just falls into place actually. Give or take a few months, I think that matches up with what we know about you.”

 

“Give or take a few months? Was I missing at some point?”

 

“Well, not exactly.” It was Erwin who spoke this time. “There was an incident a few years back, and that was the last time you were seen alive. Or to clarify, it was that day that you were killed.”

 

Now _that_ shook Eren’s calm. His relaxed position against the wall suddenly went rigid as he stared at the radio, distressed. His voice cracked loudly in his shock. “ _What?!_ I died?!”

 

“That’s right.” There was a rustling of papers and the doctor’s voice grew louder as she neared the mic. Her tone fell flat as she recited the contents of the paper to Eren. “Roughly four years, eight months ago, you were pronounced dead after…” It was just barely there, but Eren heard the pause in Hanji’s voice as she spoke, “using a pistol to commit suicide by firing it into your own head.”

 

Eren went rigid, violently being submerged in a memory. The image of a silver barreled pistol in a gloved and bloodied, shaking hand flashed across his mind. The grip of the gun rattled against the metal detail of the gloves, drowning out all over sound as his mind focused solely on the weapon that stared him down. His heart skipped a beat, and he choked in surprise with the image. Wheezing into his hand, Eren doubled over against the wall as his vision swam before righting itself as if nothing was the matter. It all happened so quickly, that Hanji didn’t notice and continued to explain the documents. He tried to listen but the blood began to pound in his ears, muffling out her voice.

 

“It’s been roughly three years, five months since Erwin and myself discovered you in the Vita-Chamber where you remained, healing yourself until you woke up.” She could be heard placing the paper down as she sat next to Erwin. “That is the time that you went ‘missing’. We have no idea of your where-abouts for just over a year.”

 

Eren thought over this for a few minutes, raking his mind for anything that might help. But there was nothing. Only darkness. But something was nagging at the back of his mind. Finally listening to the little voice that whispered in his ear, Eren sat up straighter.

 

“So what you’re saying is, you weren’t the ones to put me in that? The Vita-Chamber?”

 

“No, kid. We weren’t.” Irritation laced the man’s voice. “And it’s been our greatest mystery over all these years.”

 

“But… if you weren’t the one to put me in there,” Eren paused, a nervous tingle crawling up the base of his spine, “then who did?”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Levi slipped the dress shirt over his head, trying not to catch the delicate material on his towel dried hair. It slithered over his arms and he repressed a disgusted shiver as it encased his skin. The feel of the cloth was almost as repulsive as the memories he gained from wearing it, but he continued to dress regardless. Levi buttoned the cuffs, feeling them tighten like shackles around his wrist and smoothed out the non-existent wrinkles on the sleeves. Bit by bit, with each piece of clothing he put on, Levi became someone else. Some _thing_ else.

 

Working quickly, Levi donned the rest of his outfit, knowing that time was short. Once he had strapped the delicate leather to his feet, metal ornaments jingling as he placed the foot to the floor, Levi turned to the casket at the base of the bed, saving the last piece to his picture for last.

 

In the short distance, Levi felt something inside of him wither away and hide with each step towards the wooden box, but he was relieved. In his mind, he wanted to cease to exist if only for a little while, just so he could escape this… hell he found himself in.

 

_“You know you deserve it, Levi. Otherwise, you wouldn't bother to stay. You would try to run away from all this, but you haven't tried. Not even once.”_

 

Levi grit his teeth against the detestable voice that crept through his thoughts. The voice rung in his ears so often he knew it must be true. He deserved this. He deserved to rot in his hell for everything he had done, for everyone he had failed.

 

A flash of a young smile exploded behind his eyes, its radiance and purity taking the man by surprise. He heart clenched once, but then it fell silent and calm as Levi shoved all warmth from his chest. _Not now. I promised not to see you, brat. Not when I become… this._

 

Before he realized, his knees were on the icy wooden floor by the ancient chest. The lid was open, rusty and earthly smells rising from it as Levi stared down at the mask, surrounded by cloth and wrappings, that enslaved him to his misery. The soft azure from the mother of pearl caught the light from the waters outside his window. The warm shades of blue greeted him, and he almost felt himself relax, staring into it's abyss. But then a bitter hand curled over his heart once more. His grip on the mask tightened.It mocked his dream to see that blue cover the sky above him. It laughed at his wish to watch the stars shine in the sky; the sky he didn’t even dare gaze upon in his sleep. He didn't deserve to bask in it's beauty.

 

Standing, Levi tore his gaze from the damned thing and made his way to the mirror. Despite the anguish on his face and the exhaustion in his eyes, Levi had not a single hair out of place. He was the perfect God for his people to worship. He was the perfect mystery for them to grovel over. He was the perfect rarity that had ever graced them with his presence. He was the perfect doll.

 

No. He was the perfect puppet.

 

A delicate ring swept through the room as a little bell next to the door told Levi it was time. His limbs felt heavy, and he moved as if through molasses but as soon as a gloved hand lifted the radiantly decorated mask to his face, Levi felt his second-self come to the surface. He locked away everything that he was behind the blue cover. It smothered his face from chin to brow, acting as the true muzzle it was. Tying it tightly under the locks of his raven black hair, Levi stood numbly and made his way to the door.

 

Two sharp raps were all that was needed before the door clicked loudly and groaned as it swung open. He was met with two of his guard dogs and Levi almost rolled his eyes when they swiftly reached out and grasped his shoulders. Internally, he recoiled in disgust as their sweat dripped from their hands but with his mask on, he was a doll. He was a piece of art not meant to hold emotion. And so he stayed true.

 

It was a decently long walk to the service room with many hallways, corners and locked doors between Levi and his destination but time always slowed as Levi walked this path. Every jingling step away from his room was another step towards the life he refused to acknowledge. He denied it with every ounce of this soul and he did his best to forget it during the hours of the night, but sometimes it was impossible to ignore.

 

“I wonder ;ow much ‘e cost this time.” Levi felt his lip curl in disgust as the man at his side decided to strike up conversation with his partner. “Whaddya think, eh Bruce? The usual bonus or did ‘e buy out?”

 

“I heard there was a bidding war.”

 

“Aah, really? 'ow much was ‘e?”

 

“Apparently the final price was for three hundred percent of last month’s top deal.”

 

There was an awkward silence as the man thought. Levi could almost feel the loose gears falling from the man’s ears as his brain worked too hard. “Three 'undred… percent?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

More silence. “Three 'undred... 'ow much is that?”

 

“Seriously Billy, we’re getting into this again? Didn’t I teach you this last week?”

 

The man spluttered. “Sh-shut up, Bruce! You know I ain’t good with math!”

 

“You’re not good at a lot of things, Billy.”

 

“Whatever, Bruce.” Levi was relieved to feel the conversation end there, but that feeling was quickly stolen away when the man chuckled to himself. “You know, I’d probably do ‘im.” The utter revulsion in Levi’s stomach almost had his vision swimming. Smartly, his partner said nothing. “With that small figure, tiny 'ands… shame ‘e ain’t prettier. Would be nice if ‘e 'ad longer 'air like a woma-” Someone cleared their throat loudly and the man instantly silenced.

 

The guards stopped before the service room when Stuart stepped from the shadows. “Your job is done, you may leave.” The two men hesitated, their grips faltering and Levi had to dissuade himself from either ripping their hands off him or off their bodies entirely. He couldn’t decide what would satisfy him more. Instead, he just stared at a spot on the wall and tried to withdraw farther into his mind. “That is an order. _Leave._ ”

 

The look the butler gave the pair sent them scampering away with their tails between their legs like the mutts they were.

 

Carefully, Stuart approached and placed a gentle but firm hand on Levi’s lower back. He understood that the Levi he knew was locked away in the young man’s mind, so he guided the Lamb of the People through a vast archway and into the room beyond it.

 

As usual, the room was lush with curtains, lights, foods and the like, ready for the party or two. Or more. Levi was never informed beforehand, so it was always a… bitter surprise when more than one guest showed up. Robotically, Levi walked to his throne and placed himself on it, stiff as a board, watching the candle light dance with the artificial breeze. And there, he waited, like he had countless times before.

 

Stuart stood by the door, eyes downcast until a much louder bell than in his room rung out. Moving gracefully, Stuart opened the door and bowed deeply, not meeting the eyes of the noble who entered.

 

As soon as the man’s foot entered onto the plush red carpet, Levi felt the atmosphere change. It was so sudden and unfamiliar that Levi’s internal mask – his shield - cracked along the edges. Instantly, he was fully alert, but he had no clue as to why. And that made him deeply nervous.

 

A hearty pair of lips parted in a welcoming grin, and the man threw his arms wide as if greeting an old friend. “Oh, my Lamb! I am graced with your presence.” With a flourish, he bowed as deeply as one could with a stomach protruding over the waist of his pants. “Thank you for sharing with this lowly follower, some of your precious time.” He straightened and Levi took a careful look at the man’s face.

 

Everything seemed… expected. Everything about him seemed so normal, like his wondrous awe, the expensive suit and tie, the cigar in his breast pocket, the ring on his left hand. Not to mention the man seemingly sweat dollar bills. It was so… predictable?

 

But what Levi couldn’t understand was the malicious, calculating stare that he felt boring through his chest as the man watched him.

 

Feigning disinterest, Levi nodded at the man, not speaking as he was told so long ago. It was permission to continue.

 

“Ah, I have been a great admirer of yours since the very beginning, my Lamb. I have utterly devoted myself to your… cause.” The man swallowed around the word awkwardly. But suddenly he smiled, looking like a child with a naughty secret. Levi’s interest peaked.

 

The protective walls deep within started to crumble away.

 

“My name, my Lamb is considered to be a world renowned feat of strength. Perhaps you have heard of me?” His eyes darted to the side, as if he was nervous. But from what Levi could tell, that was not the case. “My name is Dimo Reeves, my Lamb. Once again, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

 

There was a deep breath that came from neither Levi nor Mr. Reeves, startling only one of them. The other smiled in amusement. The latter was about to speak up again before he was promptly interrupted.

 

“Excuse me, young master but I must excuse myself.” The words were roughly forced between the butlers lips. The tightness in the man’s shoulders rolled as he wrung his hands behind his back. “Thank you for your selfless service. Now please, pardon me.” Stuart spun on his heel, giving away more hints to his distress than his porcelain mask could hide.

 

But before he could withdraw to the hallway, Stuart went rigid as the man raised a single hand to stop him cold.

 

“No. Butler, I want you to stay.” The playful smile the man gave didn’t reach his eyes. Behind the mask, Levi watched the man carefully, trying to figure out his game. “After all, the more the merrier.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise, Levi's OOCness will be fixed soon. The point is, he isnt himself. He's someone completely different, so his normal self will come out once he meets Eren, as well as in some flash backs. I promise!!


	6. Lights, Camera... Explosions?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So what you’re saying is, you weren’t the ones to put me in that? The Vita-Chamber?”
> 
> “No, kid. We weren’t.” Irritation laced the man’s voice. “And it’s been our greatest mystery over all these years.”
> 
> “But… if you weren’t the one to put me in there,” Eren paused, a nervous tingle crawling up the base of his spine, “then who did?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I'm not so good at this. It's tough getting into a writers routine, but I'm getting there, slowly but surely. In the mean time, I think I've discovered that my writers block ends after roughly 10 days.. so yay. I'll be aiming for bi-weekly updates. Lets see how that does for now, then maybe I'll start to update more frequently! And I also plan to aim for 4-7k words after this chapter. Give ya a little more bang for you buck for waiting for me! Love ya darlings. (seriously thank god you guys read this)
> 
> Also, apologies again for not upping the rating. Next chapter is all Levi fun times with a bit of Eren and plot at the end. So a reverse of what I've had so far. I just want to be able to focus on him a bit more because it's going to be a VERY important chapter for various reasons.
> 
>  
> 
> Oh, also (very) small trigger warning for needles and 'drug' reference (the Adam). I'll mark the end of it with *****, but its pretty much the first 4 paragraphs then from then on, you should be fine. ^.^
> 
>  
> 
> ***AND I FORGOT TO MENTION***  
> For anyone here who knows the Bioshock games, the Big Brothers are named that for a reason. But hey just imagine it. Levi calling Eren Big Daddy. Aha. Ahaaah. Yeah that probably wouldn't happen.

When Eren emerged from the room, Vita-Chamber crackling loudly behind him, he couldn’t help bouncing on the balls of his feet.

 

Miraculously, he had made it back to the room where he had first awoken safe and sound, regardless of the doctor’s directionally challenged advice. It felt like hours in those dark, endless hallways to his exhausted and aching body and mind, so the haven of familiar surroundings was greatly appreciated. Upon arriving at the room, a few seconds of searching resulted in the gently glowing vial of Eve he had unwisely left behind.

 

After refusing to take any further advice from Hanji, Erwin managed to talk Eren through the process of injecting himself with Eve. Reflecting on the scene, Eren remembered nervously eyeing the needle while it trembled above the tender skin of his wrist and the nervous sweat that dribbled down his neck. After it was over and done with, he knew not to fear the tiny yet sharp needle, but to anticipate the explosion of energy and adrenaline that came after the vial had emptied into his system.

 

His body sang happily, the effects of the potent drug quenching any abnormal thirst that remained in his system. Eren’s mind felt clearer than it had ever been before, and all the exhaustion in his limbs evaporated away. Lips pulling back into a wide smile, Eren stared down at the gentle layer of frost that pooled at his fingertips. It was much easier to access the energy once he was refreshed like this, and he just knew in no time at all that he could get addicted to this invigorating feeling, this feeling of being strong, of being  _powerful._

 *****

The tense muscles of his body relaxed, allowing to Eren roll out his shoulders and back, a satisfying pop echoing throughout the cramped room. He hadn’t been expecting the sound, so it snapped him out of his thoughts for a moment as he stood alert. With a few seconds of mindless chatter from the radio, Eren chuckled to himself and returned to his thoughts.

 

 _Mr. Smith had mentioned that he and the doctor **discovered**_ _me in the chamber. Supposedly, they weren't the ones to put me in there. So who did? In this situation, what don’t we… no, what don’t **they** know? What else is going on here?_

 

Eren pondered over this information in silence, letting the other two plot among themselves. He wouldn’t lie to himself and say that he was calm and understanding, but Eren felt strangely at ease as he mulled over the facts. Right now, this was simply another question for him to answer, another piece to this puzzle and he was nearly giddy just thinking about solving it.

 

Impatient to move on, Eren spoke up and asked, “So, what’s our next move?”

 

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out, kid. The building itself isn’t safe anymore, not with all of these splicers roaming around, but we need to get you through these halls and up to the security tower. We will need to make a last minute stop along the way for something to… defend yourself with.”

 

“To defend myself… am I going to be fighting the people upstairs?”

 

“Preferably not,” Hanji commented, “but we want to make sure you stand a chance if you have to. As you are now, you would be walking into your second funeral. We’d need a vacuum to clean up the mess left behind, and I’m not doing that again, it’s not my turn.”

 

Eren opened his mouth to comment but he just ended up scrunching his eyebrows together, slightly perturbed. This woman didn’t exactly beat around the bush, did she?

 

“That’s putting it lightly to say the least.” Apparently, neither did Erwin.

                                                                                    

“I’m glad you have my… safety in mind?”

 

Eren could practically hear the way her smile split her face. “That’s the spirit, kiddo!” He snorted, bemused. He was finding it difficult to dislike her, and that annoyed him greatly.

 

“Hanji,” All joking aside, Erwin’s voice cracked through the air like a whip, “come take a look at this. What do you think they are doing?”

 

Eren perked up expectantly. “What, is something happening? Mr. Smith?”

 

Hanji hummed, drumming her fingers loudly against her chin. “We’re not too sure, Eren. Something big is going on, but we are blind here. There is only so much these cameras can see. But if anything happens, we’ll let you know.”

 

“Regardless, you should get moving. It wouldn’t be wise to linger there for much longer.” Erwin sounded slightly miffed as he added, “And would you please be cautious about it?”

 

Eren felt his eyes roll upwards, but replied with a simple “I promise.” An agitated breath sucked past his lips before Eren plunged into the depths of the building.

 

* * *

 

It took some back tracking and a lot of patience, but somehow, Eren managed to get to the only staircase leading up from the basement. He sighed heavily, placing his hand against the chilly steel and leaning on it, all his earlier enthusiasm being smothered by irritation.

 

“So, let me get this right. If I go through _this_ door, I will reach the staircase leading into the main lobby.”

 

“Uhh, no.”

 

“ _Uhh, no?!”_

 

“Not exactly, there are two basement levels. B1 and B2, you were on B2. So you still have one more to go.”

 

“What, can’t I use this staircase to get to the lobby?”

 

“Not if you want to crawl your way through six solid feet of rubble.”

 

“ _Brilliant.”_ Stepping into the pitch black of the hallway, Eren felt any effort he put towards caring about his mental sanity flicker away with every word the doctor spoke. At least he was getting used to it rather quickly. Anything he said before about this woman growing on him, he immediately took back.  _She may not be getting on my good side, but she **definitely**  is getting on my nerves._

 

He groped his way through the darkness, carefully placing his feet on each and every stair, using the railing to guide himself upwards. When he felt the railing warp, he knew he had reached the next floor. With a few seconds of blind flailing, Eren felt his palm close around the handle of the door.

 

“Is anyone in the room? Am I clear to go?”

 

“Looks like it, kiddo.”

 

Nodding to himself, Eren pushed open the door and stepped through. The room looked much like the ones from the floor below, but the shelves were much more barren and the ground was littered with broken glass and garbage. An unpleasant stench wafted to his nose and he gagged slightly.

 

“Damn, what is that _smell_? It’s so foul, almost sour smelling.”

 

“Probably decaying corpses.”

 

“It’s _what-”_

 

Before he could finish his reply, Erwin’s voice cut through the radio in a desperate hiss. “Eren, hide!”

 

He didn’t even have time to process what he was doing before Eren found himself face first on the floor, cowering behind an overturned desk. Adrenaline exploded through him at the man’s command and he acted without thinking. On his own accord however, Eren shimmied across the ground, trying to disrupt as little of his surroundings as possible until he found his face pressed against the edge of the desk. He peered around it cautiously.

 

In the darkest part of the hallway that branched away from the room, he could barely make out a silhouette. Judging by the way it lumbered around, hunched over and groaning, it probably wasn't friendly. He let out a puff or air he didn’t realize he was holding, somewhat relieved that the danger wasnt as immediate as he was expecting.

 

“I thought you said this room was clear!” he grit out through clenched teeth.

 

“But it was! I looked everywhere! He must have been in my blind spot.” The whine in the doctors voice just barely managed to hide her apparent guilt and worry. Hearing it helped quiet down the angry response that bubbled up in his throat. Instead, he replied testily.

 

“Remember how you asked me to trust you before? Yeah, well. That’s becoming rather difficult to do, considering _this!?_ ” His hand flailed lamely, gesturing to the not-as-vacant-as-it-should-be hallway.

 

“Hey now, what was that Eve hypo filled with? 90% sarcasm and 10% bitterness?”

 

Eren gasped dramatically, raising a hand to his mouth. "I got the sarcasm from my mother, and I am quite proud of that fact, thank you very much! But the bitterness," he resisted the urge to smirk at the camera, "that is entirely _your_ fault." 

 

“Eren, Hanji, this is hardly the time! Would you please tone it down and focus on the issue here?”

 

He clicked his tongue irritably, but he instantly calmed down, his thoughts losing all of their playful sarcasm and he took in the situation in cautious silence.

 

While he watched, the warped figure of the splicer disappeared into a room, the door clicking shut behind them. He took this chance to peer up and over the desk and scout the rest of his surroundings. Everything looked clear to him so he carefully and quietly stood up.

 

“Erwin, where do I go from here? That guy entered another room and it sounded like he locked himself in.”

 

“Unfortunately, you’re going to have to go towards the splicer to get out of this area.” Erwin spoke bluntly, laying out the heavy truth. He worded his reply carefully, as it waiting for Eren to outright refuse to do as he said. The man waited, tense, while Eren processed this.

 

Eren nearly choked on his own spit as he inhaled sharply. He successfully smothered a coughing fit behind a grimy hand and took a few deep breaths to clear his mind. A thought crossed his mind and he actually groaned aloud.

 

“Eren?”

 

Seriously though, what was in that hypo from before? Liquid courage? The energy that swam through him just continued to build while he paced, and Eren was starting to worry about the after effects on his logic skills.

 

“God, I think I’m suicidal.” He took another moment to think it over, but he had made up his mind the moment the idea popped into his head. Running a dirty palm across his face, Eren groaned out through his fingers, “I’m going to make a run for it.”

 

“I-is that wise?! There is all that debris in the way…”

 

“I’ll be careful Dr. Zoe, don’t worry. Just keep an eye on that door for me.”

 

“R-right. Erwin, you watch the hall at the other end.” Erwin grunted in reply.

 

Eren could feel his heart beating heavily, the force of it thudding against his chest in nervous anticipation. He shook his hands a few times, jumped from foot to foot as he steeled himself and before he could go back on his plan, he launched himself down the hallway.

 

Everything was going well. He could make it without a hitch, he just needed to watch his feet and he could do it. He could have done it, had every light in the building not turned on with an explosion of white.

 

Eren flinched in shock, lifting his eyes to shield himself from the blinding glare. In doing so, his foot connected solidly with a glass bottle, sending it flying towards the peeling wallpaper where it shattered into hundreds of shards. The sound was deafening in the eerie tranquility of the building. Acting fast, Eren squinted through his fingers and managed to dodge around the corner of the hallway and into what he hoped was an empty room. Apparently, luck was finally on his side as he closed the door on the janitor’s closet.

 

“Mr. Smith? Did you just turn on the lights?!” he wheezed under his breath, panicked.

 

“That wasn’t us!” Erwin replied, aghast.

 

“Then who-” Eren spoke mostly to himself, but he was cut off by Hanji’s sharp call.

 

“Erwin, look! There are maintenance submarines coming this way!”

 

“What?! I thought that had abandoned this building! We weren’t leaked information of any repairs.”

 

Eren was left in the dark again, now figuratively more than literally. “What are they doing then? Could they be planning on using this building again for something? Would the rulers of the city come back to scavenge materials or anything from here?”

 

“I-I’m not sure…” The uncertainty in the older man’s voice made Eren extremely nervous. Up until now, Mr. Smith had been calm…

 

“Hanji, come here we need to rethink about how to get Eren out of there.”

 

“Sounds like a plan. Eren, don’t do anything stupid!”

 

“Your lack of trust in me pains me greatly.”

 

“At least the feeling is mutual, right?” There was a smile to her voice and Eren found himself responding in kind, but he stayed silent.

 

Cautiously, Eren edged the door open and peered into the hallway. Ignoring the debris, it was empty of all life. Just the way he wanted it. Moving quietly, he walked alongside the wall and peered around the corner. Immediately, his eyes fell onto the door of the room the splicer had vanished into. It remained shut. With a sigh of relief, Eren backtracked.

 

Even with the lights on, there were some broken bulbs in the ceiling, so patches of shadows covered the hallway he had yet to travel down. At the end of it however, Eren noticed movement. He stiffened, ready to move as needed but when he squinted into the darkness, he noticed the thick pane of glass that separated him and the moving shape.

 

Warily, Eren moved towards the window, curious as to what swam in the waters. Getting closer, his vision cleared somewhat in the shadows and what Eren saw in the depths nearly had him pinching himself. Once again, his heart pounded in his ears, but this time it was for a totally different sensation. His heart thumped in anticipation. He was _excited._

 

“Umm,” Eren paused, eyes wide and unbelieving as he raised the radio to his lips. “I hate to interrupt, but there is a man outside.”

 

“… I beg your pardon?”

 

“There is a man in some suit outside the window and he… he’s doing something.” Slowly, Eren raised his hand to the glass, watching this mysterious man closely. His heart roared in his ears and his breath fogged the pane in front of him. Eren found he couldn’t look away. Before he had time to think about it, his knuckles rapped loudly against the window, startling himself and the figure outside with the sudden noise.

 

The man outside lifted his head from his work, cocking his head as he turned to stare Eren down. He raised a monstrous drill in his hand from where he had it buried into the ground. The blade of it spun slowly on standby, black fuel spitting out behind it and mixing in with the salty waters. When the man rolled his shoulders and turned to look at Eren properly, a badge on his chest caught the light from the building. The name that was engraved there had Eren’s full attention. _**104J-F**._

 

That name tag tugged at a memory deep within Eren’s mind, and his hand faltered against the window. He lifted his gaze from the badge and stared into the man’s helmet. From within, Eren could feel the weight of his stare and it sent a shiver down Eren’s spine. The yellow light that illuminated his helmet hid most of the man’s features inside his helmet. His eyes just barely could be seen behind the glow, and they watched Eren intently, never looking away. They blinked once and narrowed into furious slits.

 

Eren opened his mouth to say something more when suddenly the golden light vanished with a flash of red, lighting up the helmet with an eerie glow. Like a rabid beast, the man in the suit charged the glass with a silent roar, the bubbles exploding from behind his head. Eren recoiled with a shout into the darkness of the space behind him, hand falling away from the glass to shield his face. The window cracked loudly, a spider web forming where the man’s fist met the glass. He pressed his helmet against the pane and turned his head this way and that, trying to see into the dark hallway that Eren had fallen backwards into. He continued to pound the window, thankfully with less force than his first strike but his mindless rage shocked Eren immensely. He couldn’t hear a single word the man screamed but he could just make out the snarling lips behind the helmet’s tiny window. Eren couldn’t be completely sure, but he was rather confident that whatever angry words the man was screaming were directed at him.

 

After a few terrifying seconds, the man stilled, fists resting against the glass and his head bowed. His shoulders trembled pitifully, leaving Eren speechless. He stared up at the man from the shadows watching the stranger fall apart before his very eyes. The sight almost disturbed him more than the shattered remains of the splicer from before.

 

Suddenly, the man’s head jerked and he went rigid, causing Eren to do the same. He slowly pulled away from the window and lifted his gaze from his feet. He stared into the dark hallway and raised his hand to point directly to where Eren cowered. He stood with his hand up for a breath, and the silent promise that escaped with the bubbles behind the man’s head met Eren with full force. He stared silently as the stranger outside took a few steps away, finger still pointing before he vaulted over the underwater cliff, disappearing into the depths below.

 

Anxiously, Eren stood and crept over to the window. He eyed the fist shaped crack against the pane but it looked sturdy enough to him, so he stood and peered out the window. The man was gone. He let out a huge sigh of relief.

 

“He... he’s gone.”

 

Relieved, Erwin spoke breathlessly into the radio, finally speaking up now that the threat was over. “Good. That’s good. Did he see you?”

 

“Well, I’m guessing so, considering he absolutely lost it when our eyes met.”

 

There was a moment of potent silence from the radio before Hanji nervously said, “He got… angry?”

 

Eren snorted. “Not just angry, he was livid!”

 

“Kid, what did he look like? Did you see his name plate at all?”

 

“What? Who cares what he looked like?! That guy was fucking insane! He just charged the window and almost broke it with his _fist!”_

 

“Kiddo, it’s important! Did you see his name tag? It’s just at the base of the helmet, near his collar bone.”

 

The image of the illuminated steel across the man’s chest flashed across his mind. The engraving there stuck in him mind, whether he wanted it to for not. For some reason, the thought of it made him edgy.

 

“Y-yes, I think so. Do you mean the carving with one-zero-four-J-F?”

 

“Yes. That exactly.” The man hummed. “Hanji, this might be worse than we thought.”

 

“You don’t think…” The nervousness in the doctor’s voice didn’t sit well with Eren, but he made no comment of it while he wrung his hands impatiently.

 

“Kid, listen to me,” Erwin interrupted whatever Hanji was going to continue with and spoke quickly, “the Big Brother should be the least of your worries. Right now, we need to get your suit. It’s one of the only things that will help get you out of here alive!”

 

“My what…? And what the hell is a ‘Big Brother’.” Eren rolled the strange title over his tongue, but it felt unfamiliar to him.

 

“Your suit, kid! It’s an outfit you wore years ago to protect you and help you fight.” The older man sighed irritably. “And that man outside the window, 104J-F, with the drill on his hand? He is what you were before you were put into the Vita Chamber. He’s a Big Brother, just like you Eren.”

 

“That freak is just like me?”

 

“He’s not a freak, kiddo. He’s just not… normal.” Hanji’s voice sounded somewhat hurt and Eren’s eyebrows drew together in exasperation.

 

“Not normal. Right, okay. Then what is normal here? This chair?” Eren pointed vaguely at the chair he had cowered behind in the darkness of the hallway. “Is this chair normal? Because, god forbid, I sit on an abnormal chair and something happens. With how things are going for me so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if the floor opened up and I got dropped into a trench at the bottom of the bloody ocean!”

 

“Kiddo, your sarcasm is almost visible through the camera.”

 

“Eren, come on, we need you to move.” Erwin scolded.

 

“Okay, okay. I’m moving." Eren turned and started down the foreign hallway, quickening his stride into a brisk but wary pace. "Just point me – and I’m asking _you_ Mr. Smith, not the doctor – in the right direction. I don’t want to meet any more ‘surprise guests’ as you so accurately put it, doctor.”

 

“Alright, kid, we need you to move to the elevators on the western wing of the building. Even with the full power now on, you’ll want to use the emergency escape. It’ll be faster.” The sound of paper rustling caught Eren’s attention through his slightly labored breath. He guessed – well he hoped – it was a map. “You want to get to the maintenance staff locker room on the opposite side of the building. Just take the door on your right there, it’s clear and it should swing you around the splicer without anything in between.”

 

While Eren swiftly crept down the hallway, he passed a large sign that hung on the wall. “Am I not on the B1 level already?” His confusion was apparent in his voice.

 

“That’s correct, but you are in an entirely separate wing. The only way to get to the other side is to cross the distance through the lobby above you.”

 

“The lobby which is filled with more splicers, I might add.”

 

“Hanji…”

 

“What, I felt that he should know!”

 

Eren snorted, bemused. He was rather bitter with this new piece of information, but he was glad she told him. At least he had time to think of something before he got the-

 

Suddenly, the world exploded, and Eren stumbles as the floor beneath him rocked wildly before falling still. The sudden tremble of the building caught him mid stride and he tumbled into the wall to gain his balance. Eren nearly screamed in exasperation. “What _NOW?!_ ”

 

“-rwin, the security gates in the east wing just came down. The air pressure is rapidly going down too! It looks like… there was a breach in the building structure?! The wing is flooding!” The doctor’s voice was muffled by the deafening scream of the sirens that came from the room the pair was in. Erwin either said nothing, or he couldn’t be heard over the noise, but Hanji continued to yell in panic. “I thought the Big Brothers were supposed to _stop_ this kind of thing! What were they doing here?!”

 

Hundreds of thoughts flew through his mind, but Eren kept coming across one in particular. A little while ago, he noticed something but he had been too distracted to really take it to heart. Thinking about it now, Eren felt a nervous tingle in his finger tips and he paused against the wall of the hallway, making his decision. Gathering his strength Eren spun around, sprinting towards the cracked window he had come from. He pressed his face against the glass, trying to see past the spider web that now slowly dribbled ice water over his cheek and hands.

 

And sure enough, there it was. A small blinking light could be seen within the silt of the ground, directly beneath where the man from before had stood. He was far from an expert on the situation, but Eren wasn’t stupid. He knew what dynamite looked like. But the question was, why was it there?

 

Everything fell into place once Eren looked down. He had barely even noticed before but there was a small layer of water coating the floor, and it was steadily growing deeper.

 

“The building…” Eren’s heart sank out through his feet. “They’re trying to sink the building!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please let me know what ya think or if I have any spelling mistakes... a friend helped me spot out (bitch black instead of pitch black so yeah.. I'm tired). Until next time lovelies.


	7. Re-Write

For those of you who subscribed to this, I just wanted to let you all know that I will be completely re-writing this story. It will be under the same name "EnRapture" (this one was renamed so there is no confusion). 

 

The plot will be almost the exact same in this re-mastered version, I just decided to add more information and descriptions to what I had... Small plot points will be dropped into the new information that will hint to outcomes later on and such, but it will be mostly the same. Everything will be different after the 7th chapter though!

 

Thanks a bunch everyone and I hope you come over to the new version! 

**Author's Note:**

> I proofread myself, so please let me know if there are any errors I missed. :)


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